


Kingdom Hearts II.9: Vanitas Mix

by The_Unlimited



Series: Vanitas' journey through light [9]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Add in of a new character, F/M, Gen, I never learned what the hell I'm doing, OC Vanitas, Technically Pre-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27758500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited
Summary: Our favorite quartet travel to Olympus to try to find Hercules and see if he can offer Sora advice on how to get back the Power of Waking, while Vanitas tags along in the hopes he'll get back his belief in himself as a Keyblade Master. Of course, things go wrong almost as soon as they get there. Pretty soon, they're in the middle of Hades' grudge match with Olympus involving the Titans, while Maleficent and Pete show up looking for a black box. If it's the same black box that Vanitas saw in his super intricate vision, then things are about to get rough, fast...
Relationships: Donald Duck & Goofy & Mickey Mouse & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck & Goofy & Player Character & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Hercules & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Hercules/Megara (Kingdom Hearts), Maleficent & Pete (Kingdom Hearts), Mickey Mouse & Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Riku Replica (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Vanitas' journey through light [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1246529
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	1. The Way To Find Strength

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if you guys were expecting something grander, but technically, the title card at the end of the recap refers to this as Kingdom Hearts II.9. I made sure to check, there's no title card saying Kingdom Hearts III until after the group is in the Gummi Ship heading for Twilight Town. That will be the official start of III, so that'll be the official start of my III story. We can pretty much think of A Fragmentary Passage as a prelude for what to expect in III, think of this story as what to expect in my III story. 'Cause with how long and intricate the cutscenes and battles are... Boy, do I have my work cut out for me
> 
> ...I'll be honest, part of the reason I did this was so that this series and the Crossover Avengers series would be evenly matched by the time we've caught up with all the movies and games. There will be eleven stories following the movies by the end of Endgame, so I wanted eleven stories following the games, including the limit cut episode of Re:Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something that surprised me was that it took me three tries to put in the Hercules and Sora friendship tag. The first two times I pressed Enter, it did a relationship tag instead of a friendship tag. Do people really ship Hercules and Sora?

When the quartet landed on Olympus Coliseum, things weren't necessarily what they expected.

For one thing, they weren't actually in the coliseum. They were in what appeared to be a cave entrance that led into the mountains. Behind them was a way out of that cave that led down through other mountains, with an edge where the entrance was. Sora muttered confusion as the four looked around the small cave.

"No fanfare?" Sora asked Donald as the duck walked near the edge of the small cliff.

He then imitated a horn being played. Donald placed a hand next to where his ear should have been and muttered confusion as he listened.

"Uh-uh," he confirmed when he couldn't hear anything.

Goofy and Vanitas walked past them and to the edge of the small cliff, looking out at the landscape around them.

"Nope, looks like we missed the coliseum," Goofy commented.

"You know, I'm okay with that," Vanitas admitted. "All we ever do on this world is spend time at a place that was an invention of the games. I feel like we're not actually taking advantage of the opportunity provided by this place."

While Sora continued to look around in confusion, Donald decided to do his usual thing of getting mad at the brunette.

"Sora, _you_ opened the gate!" he accused.

Sora laughed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was a little off again. Sorry!"

He held up his right arm like he was flexing a muscle.

"We'll find him," Sora promised. "But we need to go!"

He turned around and started walking down the path provided by the cave, which led them further towards the mountain. Vanitas followed his cousin down the path while Donald and Goofy watched them walk, Donald in apprehension.

"Up the mountain?" Donald asked, not eager for that plan.

"Yeah," Sora confirmed as the cousins turned and looked at their friends. "'Up' is the usual direction."

"Get your hiking shoes, boys," Vanitas joked. "We've got a bit of a ways to go."

"Well, never hurts to have your heads in the clouds," Goofy said with a smile.

Vanitas resisted the urge to make another dumb joke while Sora chuckled.

"Exactly!" Sora agreed with Goofy while pumping his fist.

The two of them continued walking down the path before Goofy laughed and ran after them. Donald exclaimed with his eyes closed and a worried expression, his arms wide as if asking God why he was here in the first place.

"Hey, we're leaving!" Sora warned.

"Keep up, man!" Vanitas suggested.

Donald exclaimed in surprise and ran after them, joining them as they walked through the cave passageway.

"Luckily you managed to do a Dive before you reappeared at the tower," Vanitas told Sora.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, confused.

"A Dive to the Heart to your Station of Awakening," Vanitas translated. "I saw that you went down there again and ended up in a... really freaking beautiful place."

Sora went like "Oh..." and nodded in understanding as he realized that Vanitas had seen him go to the place with a water ground acting like a mirror with a large blue sky filled with clouds over him.

"There, you fought Shadows and a Darkside and relearned how to attack with combos," Vanitas told him. "That'll come in handy if we come into trouble. Along with your spells Fire and Water. The latter will especially come in handy."

"Why?" Sora asked, Donald and Goofy also intruiged.

"Apparently, when Shadows and Neoshadows are underground, hitting them with Water will bring them back above ground," Vanitas told them.

"Really!?" Sora asked in surprise.

"All that time we spent chasing after Shadows when they went underground, and _now_ we get the spell to bring them back out!?" Donald asked, also really surprised. *** _1_ ***

"I know," Vanitas agreed. "Surprising, huh?"

They exited the cave into a large open area at the bottom of the mountain. There were columns around them, along with a gigantic statue of Zeus sitting down above them right at the top of a small wall.

"Huh," Vanitas said, frowning at the statue.

"What is it?" Goofy asked.

"Remember how I said Ares is my dad?" Vanitas asked. His friends nodded their heads. "I just realized how weird it is to consider that that dude's my grandpappy."

He gestured up to the statue of Zeus, and the other three frowned while also feeling that weirdness Vanitas mentioned. Those expressions dropped when Heartless appeared in front of them. Shadows, Soldiers, and a Large Body appeared on the ground, while newly designed Air Soldiers floated up in the air.

"Never get a moment of rest," Vanitas commented, taking out a Desert Eagle and sliding back the chamber in preparation.

Sora started with one of his newly designed combo attacks against a Shadow before running around the Large Body. Vanitas shot the Heartless right in the head while Donald knocked aside another Shadow with fire. Goofy knocked a soldier into the air with his shield before the Large Body rushed in and knocked Sora aside. Vanitas used his telekinesis to grab the Soldier while it was in the air and threw it at the Large Body, destroying it and damaging the Large Body.

"Why was I so stupid and didn't use my powers over a decade ago?" Vanitas asked himself before shooting the Air Soldier without even looking at it, destroying with a single shot.

' _I mean, other than Kyle literally making it up on the spot,_ ' he thought, stepping out of the way to dodge the charging Large Body again. ' _But you're making up for it now by having me use them, so good on you._ '

Donald blasted an Air Soldier with Blizzard, freezing it and making it fall to the ground while Sora fought off another one with aerial combos. Vanitas finished off Donald's Air Soldier with another shot from his Desert Eagle while Donald blasted Fire twice at other Heartless. Sora blasted Fire at a Soldier while Goofy swung his shield at a Shadow, knocking it aside.

"Sora!" Vanitas exclaimed, getting his friend's attention. "Batter up!"

Luckily, Sora got the message. Vanitas roundhouse kicked a Shadow, sending it through the air and towards his cousin. Sora swung his Keyblade like a baseball bat, taking it out with a single strike.

"That's a home run!" Vanitas cheered before pointing the Desert Eagle at the Large Body again.

This time, the gun clicked empty. Vanitas exclaimed as he jumped up and backflipped, dodging as the Large Body charged at him. Luckily, Sora blocked it, making the Heartless start spinning around like a top. Vanitas hurried and replaced his handgun with his sledgehammer while Donald and Sora finished off the last of the Soldiers. Vanitas rammed his sledgehammer into the Large Body's back, swore when it didn't get destroyed with the hit, and Goofy swung his shield into it, knocking it into the air. Donald shot Thunder into the air, making electricity surround the Heartless as it got hit and fell down to the ground again. Sora charged after the Heartless and together he and Goofy finished it off, Sora with a combo attack, and Goofy by throwing his shield.

"Whoo!" Vanitas exclaimed with a laugh as after they put away their weapons. "That's right. We back!"

The other three laughed with Vanitas before looking up the mountain. They were curious for how they were supposed to go up it. Vanitas was about to offer igniting his armor and carrying them all up, but then Sora got a contemplative look as he looked at the wall in front of him. Before Vanitas could ask what was going on, Sora ran up to the wall, and then started running up it.

"That works, too," Vanitas commented.

Vanitas leaped up after Sora since this wall wasn't that tall. He landed with Sora in front of the giant statue of Zeus. Sora ran up another cliff wall and came up onto one of the mountain paths. Vanitas leaped up after him, and once they blinked, Donald and Goofy appeared next to them.

"I still don't know how the hell you guys do that," Vanitas said, gesturing to their anthropomorphic friends.

"Neither do I," Goofy admitted, looking just as confused. "Maybe some magical connection that helps transport us next to you?"

"Man, it would probably really help us get across the great distances we usually travel to get to places," Sora commented.

"Very much, yeah," Donald agreed.

They continued up the pathway up the mountain, going up another wall before they came up to the top walkway, passing some leafless trees that kind of formed arches. They walked along the pathway and came to a stop in front of a large rock part serving as a railing, giving them a good view of the mountains and the city far below them.

"I think we might be goin' in circles," Goofy commented.

"Well, we went down the only path provided to us," Vanitas said before Donald could once again get mad at Sora.

"You sure we didn't make a turn at the wrong rock?" Sora asked.

He walked closer to the railing like rock.

"Hey, Hercules!" Sora called out, forming his hands like they were a megaphone. "Where are youuu?"

Vanitas continued to look out in front of them before he smirked in realization.

"We're not in the Coliseum," he assessed. "We've finally gotten an opportunity to view the rest of the world, Olympus. Not gonna lie, I've been wanting to do that for about twelve stories now." *** _2_ ***

Vanitas looked up as he sensed a familiar presence getting closer. He looked up past the columns and mountains to see a large clot of black smoke traveling down towards them. The others turned around and watched with equal surprise as the smoke landed on the ground in front of them, exclaiming in surprise.

"All right," Hades' voice called out as the smoke started to dissipate. "I know I dotted my I's, crossed my T's, zeroed the hero. So what gives? Who could possibly be trying to give me a migraine by yodeling that yutz's name?"

He finally looked in front of himself to see the quartet. This caused his expression to barely change from annoyance, though.

"Really?" Sora asked. "Hades?"

Hades sighed out, "Oh, it's just you. Oy vey."

"It's just us?" Sora asked, resting the backs of his hands on his sides. "Even for you, that's cold."

"And I've met you four times," Vanitas said. "First time, you tried to use my friend into giving into darkness by sending lots of darkness into a friend of another friend of mine. So I kicked you in the nuts."

"You had to remind me of that incident, and that idiot, Zack Fair," Hades groaned in annoyance. He started walking towards them. "Don't forget... I can always turn up the heat!"

He yelled the last bit as he pointed at Sora.

"Wait," Goofy said, looking around. "If Hades is here, then where's Herc?"

"What is everyone's infatuation with that dolt!?" Hades snapped, leaning in to look at Goofy better, his skin and hair going red and orange with fire.

But his complexion and hair changed back to normal after a second.

"You know what?" Hades softly asked, turning and walking away from the quartet. "Never mind. Never mind. I'm cool. I'm good. Because... wonderboy'll be outta my hair soon."

Vanitas wanted to ask Hades who styles his hair, but he had to brush that aside as Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons.

"So you're up to no good again!" Sora assessed.

"Of course he is!" Goofy commented.

"You bet!" Donald agreed.

Vanitas didn't really feel like pulling a weapon on Hades. Remembering the myths, about how after they defeated the Titans and divided up who would rule over what domain, Hades kind of got the bum deal by being tasked with ruling over the Underworld. That was not a pretty place, while Zeus and Poseidon got the sea and Zeus got Olympus, both of which were beautiful. That kind of justifies Hades' reason to be angry, in Vanitas's opinion.

Plus, in a way, Hades was also his great uncle on his dad's side. Even if this was technically a different form of Hades than what was on Earth, now that he knew about his bloodlines, he didn't want to strike the god. And it seemed that Hades didn't feel like fighting them, either.

"Whoa, easy... what is this, Sparta?" Hades asked, turning to face them. "Kind of on a schedule. Don't have time to toss around the old fire and brimstone."

He turned away from them.

"The whole cosmos is basically waiting for me to, you know, conquer it!" Hades said, eagerness in his voice as he walked further away from the group.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy dismissed their weapons and Sora crossed his arms.

"Poor Hades," Sora commented loudly. "He thinks he can actually pull it off this time."

"Yeah, now that you've said that, you just know that he's about to do something grand," Vanitas told his brunette cousin.

And he was right. Hades looked up the mountainside in front of them towards the sky.

"Where are my Titans?" he bellowed. "Show me your power!"

The sky turned dark above them, while wind rushed down and the ground shook, surprising the quartet.

"Told you!" Vanitas exclaimed.

They looked up in surprise to see the Rock Titan, Ice Titan, Lava Titan, and Tornado Titan high up in the air.

"Is it me or did those guys get bigger?" Vanitas asked, a little fear in his voice as the Rock Titan's shadow covered them.

The Ice Titan and Tornado Titan worked together to send freezing wind towards them, making it harder for them to stand. Donald even stood behind Sora to try to help brace himself. Vanitas found it easier to brace himself now that he was back in control of his enhanced strength, but even he found it difficult. His eyes widened when he saw that lava was pouring down the mountainside, getting closer and closer to them.

"Ahh!" Hades gleefully exclaimed, taking in the wind. "Love the breeze."

The four continued to try to brace themselves through the wind, with Goofy holding up his shield to try to fight through the wind. Unfortunately, just seconds later, the wind prevailed, and sent the four of them flying through the air, screaming along the way.

As they were thrown through the air, Vanitas briefly saw Hades back on the mountain as Maleficent and Hades appeared, asking if he had seen a black box somewhere on the world. He thought about it and told them about Pandora's box, which Zeus had hid on the earth some time back.

He was pulled out of his vision as he and his friends got closer to the city. Vanitas was able to have his boots appear and used the thrusters to brace himself in the air. Luckily, Hercules leaped towards the others and caught Sora and Goofy, landing on the ground with them safely. Vanitas used his thrusters to float down next to his friends and land gently on his feet.

"I forgot how much I missed these things," Vanitas admitted with a laugh, pointing to his boots before they disappeared.

Hercules breathed out as he stood up, holding Sora and Goofy over each shoulder.

"See?" Sora asked, as if he wasn't slung over a demigod's shoulder. "Found him."

"Yeah, guess this counts!" Goofy agreed.

"Kind of," Vanitas agreed with a small chuckle shared with Hercules.

"Get me down!" Donald yelled.

Hercules and Vanitas looked up on top of a wall to see Donald hanging by his shirt in the tooth of a giant golden lion statue.

"I got him," Vanitas said, re-summoning his boots.

He flew up to the golden statue and grabbed Donald, then floated back down with his thrusters and placed the mallard down onto his feet, next to Sora and Goofy, in front of Hercules.

"You guys are here!" Hercules greeted. "Sora, V, Donald, Goofy! You literally dropped in. Gotta say, I'm impressed."

' _I'm impressed they got Tate Donovan to come back again_ ,' Vanitas thought with a smirk. ' _Guy did do the role best_.'

"Thanks!" Donald said after Sora gave a small chuckle.

"Liked the catch," Goofy said, holding up a hand.

"I give it a ten," Vanitas agreed.

"Yeah, thanks, Herc," Sora said. He looked around in confusion. "But... what's going on?"

Hercules very visibly deflated at his question. He looked with them as they looked around at the still on fire city all around them.

"Take a guess," Hercules said. "Starts with an H."

"Ah, I get the picture," Sora said, crossing his arms. "Actually, we bumped into the H-ster on the way here."

"Uh-huh," Donald agreed.

"He said somethin' about conquerin' the whole cosmos," Goofy added.

"All of it, huh?" Hercules asked. "Nice of him to show a little self-restraint."

"Is there anything past the whole cosmos?" Vanitas asked with a smirk, both kind of serious and not that serious.

"Well, whatever he's planning, I'll send him running back across the Styx," Hercules announced, placing his fists on his hips.

"That's our Herc!" Sora commented with a laugh, placing his own fists on his hips.

They made sure to stop and buy some Potions and Ethers from a nearby Moogle and healing a bit before they started walking down the Agora, passing by some pillars that were in front of the giant statue of Hercules.

"So, Sora, is there a reason you guys are visiting?" Hercules asked as they stopped between two pairs of pillars in front of the statue. "I'm guessing it's not just for the cheese and olives."

"Oh, yeah!" Sora exclaimed in remembrance.

"It sounds like somebody forgot," Goofy commented.

"That's Sora," Donald added.

"I just... took my time remembering," Sora said, looking away from the duck and crossing his arms.

"You do remember that we _all_ forgot to tell Thor about Thanos, right?" Vanitas reminded the duck.

"Oh, yeah," Donald said in remembrance.

"Dude, all have problems with remembering," Vanitas commented with a frown. "Even though I've gotten over the amnesia."

"We'll work on that later," Sora said as they all turned towards Hercules. "Herc, I came here so I could ask you something."

"Ask _me_?" Hercules asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah," Sora said. "Do you remember the last time we were together? You were feeling down and out. How'd you get your strength back, when you jumped in and saved Meg?"

"Hmm... that's tough," Hercules admitted, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "All I know is that she was in trouble. Suddenly, I wanted to save her with all my heart, but..." He looked down at Sora. "It's not like I could tell you how."

"Oh, man," Sora said, looking down in distraught.

"What's wrong?" Hercules asked.

"All my strength is gone from me, too," Sora admitted, looking into his palms. "That's why I need you. Because I was hoping you might have a solution, or something."

"I'm sorry, Sora," Hercules said, sad for the brunette.

Donald and Vanitas both exclaimed in sadness for Sora, but their attentions were soon drawn to large bursts of fire coming down from the sky towards the city.

"Heartless!" Donald exclaimed.

"Flame Cores!?" Vanitas exclaimed. "How is this the first time we've encountered these pricks outside the Dark Realm?"

Vanitas pulled out his fire axe as the Flame Cores crashed into the ground, causing explosions as they impacted. Enough hit Hercules' statue to cause it to fall down to the ground. The Flame Cores blasted fire out of their mouths towards whatever they saw.

"Let's talk later!" Hercules announced as they all stood in battle stances.

"Right, once we've dealt with these guys," Sora agreed.

The Flame Cores all gathered in front of the group of five as they prepared for battle. Sora started things out by casting Water on one Flame Core before using Flowmotion to spin around one of the columns and attacking three at once. Donald cast Blizzard on another Flame Core, while Goofy charged at one with his shield, and Hercules rammed his fist into another, sending it flying into one of the other Cores. Vanitas cast fire around himself as a barricade from the Flame Cores' fire attacks before rushing in and chopping one a bunch of times with his axe. He backflipped to dodge another attack of fire before using his telekinesis to throw one through the air and right into a column, doing quite a bit of damage.

Sora kept casting Water on the Flame Cores, doing great damage against the Heartless and bringing one out of a powered charge while encased in fire. Donald and Goofy exclaimed as fire hit them, but the Water sprayed from Sora's attacks ended up helping them a bit. Hercules charged at another Flame Core and knocked it aside before jumping up and slamming his fists into the ground, causing a shockwave that took out two of the Heartless. Donald cast more Blizzard while Goofy threw his shield and Vanitas stomped one of the washed down Flame Cores, destroying it.

Donald froze one of the washed down Flame Cores with Blizzard, and Hercules had golden energy appear around himself, bringing in that Flame Core and a couple of others in close before releasing the energy and blowing them up. Vanitas used his axe to finish of one of the still living Flame Cores while Sora took one out with more Water. Donald cast Aero on the last Flame Core, causing a small tornado to pick up the Heartless. Goofy attacked it by sliding at it with his shield, and Sora and Vanitas finished it off with strikes from their weapons.

With all the Flame Cores destroyed, the group put away their weapons and stood up straight. Their attentions were drawn to a familiar female voice calling out, "Hercules!"

They turned around to see Pegasus flying down and landing just a little distance behind them, Meg and Phil on his back.

"You're okay!" Meg exclaimed as she and Phil climbed off the horse's back.

"Meg!" Hercules greeted as the group walked up to their friends.

"Boy, that didn't look so fun," Meg commented, walking up to Hercules.

"No, not with the Heartless involved," Hercules agreed. "We're just lucky our friends showed up."

"Well, whaddya know?" Meg asked, smiling as she looked past Hercules to the other four.

"Hey, good to see you guys again!" Phil told the Gummi quartet.

"Nice to see you, too, you crazy satyr," Vanitas greeted with a smile.

' _And thank you, Kyle, for giving him lines_ ,' he thought. *** _3_ ***

"Sora, V, Donald, Goofy, guess I owe you a big thank you," Meg told the smiling other three members of the quartet.

"Meg, you need to stay someplace safe," Hercules told Meg, concerned for her safety. "We'll search the city and make sure everyone manages to get clear of the fire."

"It's New York and Sokovia all over again," Sora commented.

"Damn!" Vanitas exclaimed, looking at his cousin. "Like, two seconds before I could!"

"Be careful, Wonderboy," Meg told Hercules, ignoring the boys' canter and looking at the muscled man in concern.

"I will," Hercules promised her. He turned towards the Gummi Quartet. "So, you guys in?"

"Of course we're in!" Sora promised him.

"We're heroes!" Donald added.

"Mm-hmm!" Goofy agreed with a nod of the head.

"Taking out Heartless and saving people is the job," Vanitas casually agreed, resting his hands on the back of his head.

"Break a leg then... heroes," Meg told them, looking over the four with a smile.

"Phil, you should go with Meg," Hercules told the satyr as Meg walked back to Pegasus.

"You got it, champ," Phil told him with a nod of the head. "Make sure to use all the training I gave you. That goes for all of you!"

"Sure, thing, Phil," Sora promised the satyr as he climbed onto Pegasus with Meg.

Hercules walked over to the enhanced horse and scratched behind his ear, making Pegasus neigh in gratefulness.

"You gotta keep them safe," Hercules told his oldest friend.

Pegasus nodded with a determined expression before flying up into the air. The group watched the trio as they flew through the air as they soon left their sights.

However, Vanitas and Goofy's attentions were drawn to the sound of a young, female voice calling out, "Heeelp!"

They stood to the side and held up their hands to their ears to try to hear better. This worked, because they soon heard the voice adding, "Is anyone theeere?"

"Hey!" Goofy announced. "We hear a voice!"

"I guess it's time to get to the saving people part of this job," Vanitas announced.

"From which way?" Hercules asked, looking at the two.

"Over that way!" Goofy said, pointing towards where they heard the voice.

Vanitas reached into his sling and pulled out some binoculars. He used them to follow Hercules' gaze across the city, seeing a young blonde girl in a pink dress trapped on top of the side of a high wall.

"Help meee!" she yelled.

"Oh, no!" Hercules exclaimed. "There's a little girl caught in the fire!"

"Let's go!" Sora exclaimed as he started running across the Agora.

"Wait," Hercules exclaimed, stopping the brunette. "Running's too slow!"

"So is carrying everyone across the city with my boots," Vanitas said.

"Yeah, what's the other choice?" Sora asked.

Hercules looked around in thought, and perked up at the sight of his downed statue just a few feet away.

"Get on that," he instructed, pointing at the statue.

"I like the way you think," Vanitas said, wide eyed and wide smiled.

The Gummi quartet climbed onto the statue and sat on the stone cape on the back.

"Is it safe?" Donald asked Goofy.

"Hope so," Goofy said.

"It probably isn't," Vanitas said with a laugh.

"Like this?" Sora asked Hercules as he sat down next to Hercules.

"That's good," Hercules said. "Now hold on tight!"

"To what?" Sora asked, genuinely curious. He looked at Vanitas. "First you, then him. How many times do people have to tell me that before they realize there's pretty much nothing for me to hang on to?"

Vanitas didn't get to answer, because Hercules picked up the large statue of himself, lifting it and them up into the air, surprising Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Wh-wha-whoaa!" Sora exclaimed. "Herc, m-maybe we should... I don't think this is a good idea!"

"Whoo!" Vanitas exclaimed in excitement. "This is gonna be fun!"

Hercules yelled out in effort as he used his own enhanced strength to throw the statue up into the air, right through the town.

"Oh, no!" Sora exclaimed. "Not agaaaaaain!"

"I take it back!" Vanitas exclaimed as the wind rushed through his hair. " _This_ is the best roller coaster ever!"

They landed in an overlook over the city and helped the little girl down the wall, lowering her down to stable ground next to various benches.

"Thank you for saving me," she told the boys.

"Yeah, no prob," Sora told the girl before she turned away and started running down the street. The quartet faced each other. "We better check and see if anyone else needs us."

"Definitely New York and Sokovia all over again," Vanitas commented as Donald and Goofy nodded their heads in agreement.

Their attentions were drawn to the side of the Overlook as a familiar, sinister, female voice said, "Well, if it isn't Sora, Vanitas, and the King's pawns."

The Gummi quartet exclaimed in surprise as they turned towards the sound, seeing Maleficent and Pete stepping out of a dark corridor, the latter smiling wickedly at them.

"Maleficent!" Sora exclaimed. "Pete!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons while Vanitas took out his enhanced Sadu ASALT 96, the one that had the spell that fought through darkness, and prepared it to fire.

"Are you the reason the Heartless is here?" Sora asked.

"Certainly not," Maleficent admitted.

Pete leaned forwards with his wide smile and narrowed his eyes at Sora.

"Say, Maleficent, I dunno about his sidekicks, but Kid Keyblader here sure looks way punier than the last time we saw him," he loudly commented, making Sora mutter in worry. "I say we finish him off while we still can."

Vanitas decided to not hold any bars back since they were threatening his cousin. He fired a bullet towards Maleficent as a warning, making sure it only grazed her arm. She exclaimed in pain as she placed her free hand over her hand holding her staff. She and Pete looked towards her bleeding wound in surprise before looking at Vanitas.

"We've improved since the last time we fought you pricks," Vanitas told the duo.

"As much as I'd like to finish these idiots off, especially this one," Maleficent snapped out, ignoring the pain in her arm as best she could as she looked at Vanitas. "Waste no time with the boys. They're inconsequential. We have a far more pressing matter to attend to."

She waved her staff, and the green orb glowed, casting a spell that healed the wound on her arm. While she did that, Pete looked up in thought, genuinely curious.

"Oh!" he exclaimed in remembrance. "We's got to find that black box!"

"Be silent, you fool!" Maleficent snapped, making Pete exclaim in embarrassment while Vanitas's eyes went wide.

He barely registered their words to Hades earlier since he was being thrown through the air, but now he actually took in their words of "black box." The only black box that they could mean was the one he saw Luxu dragging through the Badlands after the Master of Masters sent him away. No one knew what was in the box except for those two, but with Luxu's reaction when the Master of Masters told him was in the box, he knew it couldn't be pleasant. If Maleficent was after the black box, things couldn't be pleasant. Sure, the box had been hidden for, possibly centuries at this point, but if _she_ was looking for it...

"As for you four, we shall meet again," Maleficent told the quartet as she turned away from them and walked towards a new dark corridor. "When I have time for such trifles."

"Yeah, and youse better get your act together before then," Pete told them with a smug expression.

"You're really gonna be this smug when you used to wear those stupid fucking superhero costumes?" Vanitas asked.

Pete growled in anger at the reminder once again as he turned away from them and followed Maleficent to the dark corridor.

"Later, twerps!" he called out with a wave.

"Later, Captain Justice!" Vanitas called after him.

Pete growled in anger once again before going through the corridor and disappearing with it.

"Wait!" Sora called out as he and Donald ran after the corridor right before it disappeared.

Vanitas put away his Romanian SMG while Sora looked down in sadness.

"Sora?" Donald asked the brunette in worry.

"You all right?" Vanitas asked his cousin.

Sora sighed out as he turned towards them.

"It's fine," he promised, which all three knew was fake. "I can take it."

"Gawrsh, it sure don't sound like it," Goofy commented. "Did Pete saying mean things bother ya?"

"It's fine!" Sora once again fake promised them as he looked down and crossed his arms. "I can take it."

"Don't listen to him, he's just an asshole," Vanitas told his cousin.

"Yeah, you're gonna get stronger!" Donald assured Sora.

"We know ya!" Goofy added. "You _can_ take it!"

"Don't say that!" Sora said, suddenly sounding distraught.

"I just said what he said," Goofy said, looking down at Donald.

"He can take it!" Donald announced.

"You're gonna get through it," Vanitas assured his cousin. "I know it. You've lost your abilities twice and gotten them back within weeks. You can do it again."

"I hope you're right," Sora said, sighing out.

"Come on," Vanitas said. "We can start by helping the people of this city out."

"Yeah!" Sora agreed, nodding his head.

They stopped for a bit to replenish their health and magic expenses with Potions and Ethers and ran down the stairs of the Overlook, ready to help the people of Thebes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 That was my exact reaction when I read in the log that Water brings them out
> 
> *2 If you think he's breaking the 4th wall too much, I did say some time back that he's pretty much a less insane Deadpool
> 
> *3 I still don't understand why he never spoke in III. Could they just not get Danny DeVito to reprise the role again?
> 
> Something that's actually kind of fun to think about: the world of Olympus and the character of Hercules has been involved with almost every game in the series to this point. Think about it, 1, Chain of Memories, Days, 2, Birth By Sleep, Coded, and this one. The only games it hasn't been in is A Fragmentary Passage (It was mentioned, but not actually included), and 3D. They must have really liked this world


	2. Fighting Heartless and Saving People. All in a day's work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group goes about their day job and goes through another city filled with enemies to help people...

Once they were done healing and restoring their magic expenses in the Overlook, the group of Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy ran down a nearby staircase into a part of the city, where, almost immediately, they exclaimed as the ground shook under their feet. Above them, one of the many walls lined with columns shattered to pieces as Flame Cores flew through the ceramic, landing roughly on the ground and facing the quartet.

"Barely get five minutes of rest," Vanitas commented, sliding his machete out of his sling.

Sora didn't hesitate to start running around casting Water on the Flame Cores, while Goofy threw his shield, Donald cast Blizzard and Thunder, and Vanitas slashed with his machete. When the Flame Cores kept shooting fire at the four, Goofy blocked it with his shield, Donald dodged but still got hit a couple of times, Sora made sure Water was cast at the right moment for the liquid to extinguish the flames, and Vanitas just surrounded himself with his own fire to absorb the blasts.

Pretty soon, the Flame Cores started dropping like flies. Sora kept alternating combo attacks with casts of Water, Donald kept blasting Thunder or whacked them with his staff, Goofy slammed his shield into the Heartlesses' faces, and Vanitas slashed with his machete or used his telekinesis to throw the Flame Cores around. Within minutes, all the Heartless were destroyed.

The four tried to move on, but found their path blocked by fire practically covering the road in front of them. Sora tried to slowly move forwards with his hands raised, but he jumped back and exclaimed, "Ouch!" when the heat proved to be too much.

"Now what're we gonna do?" Donald asked in despair after walking right next to Sora.

"I can probably cast a shield around us with my own fire," Vanitas suggested. "But we'd end up having to shuffle through the road, and who knows how long that'd take?"

Goofy walked towards the flames with his shield in hand. He raised the shield up with both hands, closed both eyes and winced as he pushed it against the fire. Surprisingly, the fire actually bounced off the shield, much to the dog's amazement. He laughed as he looked at his hands, seeing that they were okay.

"Fellas!" Goofy said, looking at the others. "I just got a crazy idea!"

"The shield!" Sora said in realization as he and Donald laughed in happiness.

"Although, it's only big enough for three," Goofy admitted, sadly.

"No worries," Vanitas assured them.

With that, his gauntlets and boots appeared over his hands and feet.

"I'll be right behind you guys," he assured them. "For you guys, it'll be like sledding. For me, it'll be like snowboarding."

They shared a laugh over that before getting into positions. Goofy tossed the shield to the ground and Sora and Donald stepped on. Goofy pushed it and jumped on after them and they started sliding forwards through the fire. Vanitas used his boots to slide after them, proving accurate to the claim that it would look like he was snowboarding. They had to dodge as a bunch of columns fell from above and landed on the fire road, but they managed to get through unscathed.

They reached the end of the road and ended up having to move across some rooftops, all while fire kept falling through the sky in the distance. After climbing across the roofs, the quartet had to fall quite a distance onto the road below, but kept moving on. And pretty soon, they found two people standing on large pieces of rubble surrounded by Soldiers and Air Soldiers.

Vanitas pulled out a revolver for the Air Soldiers and his spear for the Soldiers. Vanitas fired at one Air soldier while Sora started a combo attack on another. Goofy spun around attacking with his shield, getting a bunch of soldiers at once, while Donald cast Blizzard and Thunder again. Sora took out an Air Soldier and a Soldier with combo attacks before landing on the ground and casting Fire twice on another soldier. Vanitas twirled around his spear to use it as a staff at first, swinging the pole part roughly into Soldiers. He then used the sharp part to directly stab an Air Soldier in the... air. He fired a shot at the last Air Soldier and destroyed it.

Then more Air Soldiers appeared around the pillars behind them, and even more Soldiers came charging down the stairs that the four had just come down. Vanitas sighed out in annoyance before firing two rounds into an Air Soldier. Somehow, Fire and Blizzard had gotten cast, and the two spells flew around the area as they looked for targets. Sora used a combo attack to take out an Air Soldier while Goofy charged at a Soldier, Donald jumped up and whacked an Air Soldier with his staff, and Vanitas kept whacking, stabbing, or slashing with his spear. Sora then started the team attack Flare Force with Donald, sending lots of flares out at once to attack the enemies, which caused lots of explosions and lots of damage. With an Air Soldier and a Soldier left, Vanitas used his telekinesis to grab the Air Soldier out of the sky and slam it into the Soldier hard, destroying both of them.

"I really missed doing that," Vanitas said with a small smile.

Sora moved up the rubble to the two people standing there, a man and a woman, who were shell shocked from the attack.

"There's... there's others still trapped in the city!" the man told him before offering a Potion.

The quartet moved on down the street and down a couple of more stairs until they found another road filled with fire. Once again, Sora Donald and Goofy slid through the fire on Goofy's shield while Vanitas slid after them with his armor on. After they got out of the fire, they found themselves on another rooftop overlooking part of the city, and exclaimed in surprise when another giant ball of fire fell through the sky and smashed a building apart.

"The building!" Donald exclaimed.

"Gawrsh, I hope they got insurance," Goofy commented.

"Everyone is saying stuff I would say before I do," Vanitas commented with a small frown. "Am I having an off day?"

"We'll worry about that later," Sora told him. "If there's anybody else stuck out here, we'd better find 'em fast."

They moved off of the rooftop and landed on a road that led to nearby gardens. But they went down a small path first to find a room with a man inside surrounded by Shadows and Soldiers.

Vanitas used his telekinesis to throw a Shadow into a wall almost immediately while Sora did the same thing to a Soldier with a combo attack. Goofy spun around to attack with his shield while Donald cast more Blizzard and Fire, then Sora cast Water. Since these Heartless were much smaller than the others, they were all gone within very little time.

"Thanks, kid..." the man told Sora, offering a Hi-Potion.

The quartet moved on through the gardens where they found a spot to rest up and once again restore their health and magic expenses with Potions and Ethers. Vanitas even slipped a Mossberg 560 shotgun with a pistol grip out of his sling and slid shells within. He pumped it in preparation as they continued down the road, while also making sure the dangerous end wasn't accidentally pointed at one of his friends. He had already gotten enough complaints from them when they went through cities in the past... 

The quartet continued through the gardens, going down some more steps ("Why are there so many staircases in this city?" Vanitas had asked), before their attentions were drawn to the sound of a female voice yelling, "Someone heeelp!"

They pretty quickly found a bunch of Flame Cores surrounding a column. A brunette woman in a dark blue dress with a pink head band was on top of the column, looking down at the Heartless in fear.

"Where did all these monsters come from?" the woman asked. "Hercules, where are you!?"

The quartet stopped at one of the resting stops in a staircase, and they looked up at the Heartless surrounding the column.

"Look!" Donald exclaimed, pointing towards the Heartless.

"Oh, no!" Sora exclaimed.

"Let's move!" Vanitas announced as they continued down the stairs.

"Help is on the way!" Goofy announced.

"We'll put these hotheads out!" Sora promised as they stood in front of the Heartless.

"A little too easy," Vanitas quipped.

"Hang on up there!" Goofy assured the woman.

"Huh, who are you three?" the woman asked. " _Where_ is Hercules?"

"Hey, we're heroes, too!" Donald snapped.

"It doesn't take big muscles to make you a hero, lady," Vanitas added.

He pretty quickly pointed his shotgun at a Flame Core and fired. Sora Air Slid into the column in front of them and started spinning around, picking up Flame Cores. Once he got enough, he attacked them while spinning. Donald ran after two Cores that were backed against a wall and started swinging his staff at it while Goofy smacked one in the face with his shield and Sora used combo attacks and Water to attack. Vanitas fired his shotgun four more times at Flame Cores before it clicked empty.

"I forgot these things don't really hold that much ammo," Vanitas admitted, twirling it around in his hands.

Vanitas swung his shotgun into the Flame Cores like a club, knocking them aside whenever they got close. Sora spun around on columns twice more, gathering the Heartless together before attacking with his Keyblade. One Flame Core started flying around while covered in fire, going high up into the air so fast so they couldn't reach. The quartet took out the Flame Cores by the second, except for the one that kept flying around. Donald managed to cast Blizzard at the same time Sora cast Water, but the spells only hit the last Core _after_ it slammed to the ground, damaging the mallard. The Flame Core was still destroyed by the two magics, though.

Once the Heartless were all defeated, the woman climbed down from the pillar and ran towards the boys with thankfulness on her face. The four put away their weapons as they turned towards the woman.

"Thank you," she said, gratefully. "You're so kind. Keep training, and one day you'll be great heroes, just like Hercules."

The boys smiled at her compliments before she started running down one of the roads down further into the city. Sora deflated a bit when she left eyesight, though.

"'Keep training'?" Sora asked, looking at his arm. "Is it that obvious?"

"No, these people just hold really high expectations for heroes thanks to Hercules," Vanitas told his cousin before Donald could make some wisecrack to diminish Sora's confidence even more. "When they see a hero, they expect tall men with big muscles, like in those stereotypical 80's action movies. Like Predator. They don't know that heroes come in all shapes and sizes."

"I think whatever the case is, we all have a ways to go," Goofy commented. "But we'll get there together!"

"Yeah, we will," Sora agreed with a pump of the fist.

Donald sighed out, at which Vanitas not that strongly slapped him in the back of the head, and they moved on. During which, Sora attacked the ankle of a statue, causing it to fall and shatter two ceramic walls as it also shattered, making a way through the garden and revealing another item chest.

"Tell me you meant to do that," Donald requested.

"Tell me you did it for the hell of it," Vanitas requested with a laugh. *** _1_ ***

"Well, at least we can get through now," Goofy commented.

Sora opened the chest, getting the item just like he had done with all the other chests they passed, and they moved on down the road, starting down another one of the many hills. However, their attentions were drawn to the ground shaking as another giant fire ball flew into another building with columns, shattering it and sending pieces all over the unseen ground below, adding to the rubble already around the city.

The quartet continued down the hill, ignoring the road that was blocked with bits of buildings and sliding down the mountain into the broken parts of a building called The Big Olive. Part of the building had fallen apart and fell down so it was even with the angled road, with holes in the walls leading in and out. The four slid in then out of the building, and found themselves in a small area next to a large pit with lots of fire at the bottom.

"Uh, be really happy you can run on walls now," Vanitas told Sora, gesturing to the giant wall next to them that led from the small spot they were standing at to the road across from the pit.

"I am," Sora agreed as he started running up the wall.

Vanitas had his gauntlets and boots appear and flew after his cousin as he ran horizontally across the wall. However, Air Soldiers very quickly appeared in front of them. Sora attacked one with an aerial combo while Vanitas pulled out his Michael Myers knife. He stabbed one in the neck, turned another one's head 180 degrees with his enhanced strength (he noted it looked a bit like Jason did in... a couple of those movies), and punched a third in the face and threw it right down into the fire. All three were destroyed, but there were about five left. Luckily, Sora and Donald used Flare Force again to blast the Air Soldiers lots of times.

Of course, that didn't finish off the Air Soldiers. Sora climbed onto a nearby roof that Donald and Goofy appeared on as well, with Vanitas following. Multiple Heartless called Popcats appeared, which Vanitas would have thought were cute if they weren't lunging at the four. *** _2_ ***

Sora attacked the Popcats with more combos while Vanitas stabbed or slashed them with his knife. Donald cast Blizzard and Thunder at both the Popcats and the coming up the wall. Vanitas took out his newly now full revolver and fired at the Air Soldiers while Goofy threw or swung his shield. Once the Popcats were finished, the Air Soldiers didn't take that much longer, with the added help of Fire from Sora.

After opening up a nearby chest, they jumped off the roof and landed in the road with rolls. The four continued up another staircase and ran down the road. They passed some columns before coming across four Soldiers cornering a woman and a small blonde boy. The four attacked the Soldiers. Sora took his out with a combo attack, Vanitas stabbed one with his knife and fired another shot, Goofy took his out by spinning while attacking then smacking it directly, and Donald took his out with Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder.

Of course, four more appeared on both the left and the right sides of them. Sora ran towards the four and took out one with a combo attack while Donald blasted Blizzard and Vanitas took out his sledgehammer. However, Vanitas didn't get to attack with his giant hammer because Sora and Goofy started a tea attack called Goofy Bombarder. Sora jumped up onto the shield as Goofy sent them flying up like a rocket. The two grabbed hands as Sora spun Goofy around. He threw the ready Goofy towards the Heartless, and Goofy slammed into the ground hard with his shield, causing a shockwave that took out all the remaining Soldiers.

"Okay, I gotta get in on these team attacks," Vanitas commented. "'Cause that was pretty fucking awesome."

Three more Flame Cores appeared on the road not too far away, and Vanitas didn't hesitate to hit one with his sledgehammer, while Sora cast Water on another. Donald and Goofy took out one with Blizzard from Donald, followed by both of them whacking it with their weapons. Sora took out his Flame Core with Water, while Vanitas smashed the last one with his sledgehammer, destroying it.

The woman exclaimed that the four of them were her heroes before they continued through the city. Eventually, they found another large bout of rubble with people on top covering from the Air Soldiers and Shadows surrounding them.

Sora Air Slid into one of the columns and spun around, gathering a Shadow and an Air Soldier before he let go and attacked while spinning.

"Fore!" Vanitas exclaimed, raising his sledgehammer like it was a golf club.

He swung his sledgehammer into a Shadow and knocked it into a wall, destroying it.

"What do you think, eagle or birdie?" Vanitas asked before hitting an Air Soldier with the mallet. *** _3_ ***

Sora did another spin attack of Flowmotion from the column while Goofy threw and whacked his shield, and Donald swung his staff and cast Thunder. When the Shadows and Air Soldiers disappeared, more Air Soldiers appeared with some normal Soldiers. Sora started sliding around while casting Fire at the Soldiers while Donald blasted Blizzard. Vanitas kicked aside another Soldier before using his telekinesis to slam an Air Soldier into another wall, destroying it. Sora used Flowmotion on the column to attack Heartless again before Donald cast Thunder on two Air Soldiers and Goofy threw his shield at the third. Goofy and Vanitas soon finished off the last two Soldiers with swings of their weapons.

The quartet made sure the people on the rubble were okay before they moved on down the other road. They went through two more fire filled roads with Goofy's shield and Vanitas's armor before going down a set of stairs and entered a small impasse area with lots of rubble from one of the destroyed buildings. Naturally, Heartless called Bizarre Archers appeared on top of pieces of columns and pointed their bows.

The Heartless fired their arrows, but Vanitas caught them in the air with his telekinesis, turned the arrows around, and sent them back to the Archers. The Heartless were knocked back from the attacks, before Sora started casting Fire on one. Goofy swung his shield at one of the Archers while Donald cast Blizzard on another. Sora took out another Archer with a combo attack while Vanitas threw a fireball at another one, blowing it up. Twice, Sora used Flowmotion to attack an Archer before Goofy finished off one by throwing his shield and Donald blasted the other with Fire.

With the Heartless destroyed, the quartet continued down the alleyway and went up a set of stairs, finding themselves right next to a large building that was on fire. They ran into the open doors and gasped in surprise to see Hercules standing on a pile of rubble holding up a large piece of ceiling himself, with people on the ground at the base of the rubble.

"Herc!" Sora exclaimed.

"Sora!" Hercules strained out.

The three people below Hercules, a man, a woman, and a young child, were on the ground, tired and resigning themselves to what they think is fate.

"We're coming!" Vanitas exclaimed as he and the others ran further into the shaking room. They exclaimed as the room kept shaking, and Hercules strained a bit more as more of the ceiling fell apart. Pretty soon, the large parts of ceramic and columns all fell into place in front of the doors behind the quartet, sealing them in with the others.

"Nooo!" Donald exclaimed.

Sora exclaimed as he and Vanitas turned from the door to the center of the room, where more Flame Cores appeared.

"More Heartless!" Sora exclaimed.

"You take them," Hercules instructed as the people tried to shield themselves from the Heartless. "We need to save these people!"

"Hell, yeah!" Vanitas agreed, taking out his machete in one hand and a Glock in the other as he and Sora ran up to the Heartless.

"Herc, can you hold the building?" Sora asked.

"No problem!" Hercules assured them with a smile even though there was still a little bit of strain in his voice.

"Guys, we gotta do this quick!" Sora announced as the four stood in battle stances.

' _I like that they brought back Vim and Vigor,_ ' Vanitas thought. ' _Although, it isn't one of my favorites._ '

They ran forwards to attack the Flame Cores, with Vanitas swinging his machete or firing his Glock, Donald cast Blizzard, Goofy swung his shield, and Sora spammed Water until his magic was out. Once that was over, he had luckily gained enough energy to do the attack Watera, sending an even bigger splash of water at the Heartless, before starting the Form Second Form. Donald blasted a Flame Core with Blizzard while Sora started attacking in ways that included his old combo finishers, including Explosion and Ripple Drive. Goofy kept attacking the Flame Cores with his shield while Vanitas sent one flying with his telekinesis before shooting it.

Once more than a couple of Flame Cores were gone, Shadows appeared around the four of them. Sora kept up his old forms of combo attacks before getting enough energy to perform Ars Arcanum, which he used to destroy a couple of Flame Cores and Shadows. Vanitas shot another Flame Core with his handgun before he looked up in remembrance.

"I just remembered another trick I learned that I can do without my Keyblade," he announced.

Vanitas then disappeared and reappeared behind the last Flame Core and slashed it with his machete, destroying it.

"That'll come in handy!" Donald commented before hitting a Shadow with his staff.

"Very!" Vanitas agreed before shooting another Shadow without even looking at it.

Soldiers and Air Soldiers soon appeared, and Goofy tossed his shield at the airborne enemies. Vanitas kicked a Soldier with his enhanced strength, knocking it into a wall and destroying it. Donald cast Blizzard and Thunder to attack while Sora cast some more Water. Which was perfect, because more Flame Cores started appearing once the Soldiers started to get destroyed. Sora kept using Water until he got enough energy to start Second Form again. He and Vanitas then got with Donald as they started Flare Force, with Donald sending out the Flares and Vanitas using his fire to making them fly at the enemies even faster, while also making them a little stronger. With that attack, the last of the Heartless were destroyed, ending the battle.

With the Heartless finally gone, Hercules perked up at the quartet.

"Get the people out!" he told them.

"Okay!" Sora agreed as he dismissed his Keyblade.

"I got the doorway!" Vanitas announced.

He yelled out as he charged at the large pieces of ceiling like he was a linebacker, and succeeded in knocking aside ceiling and column bits alike. Of course, that didn't take everything out, so he had to use his telekinesis, which was much stronger now that he was back in control. He cleared the doorway within seconds, and stood to the side of it as he looked at his friends helping the people.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Vanitas exclaimed, gesturing for the people to move faster as they moved past him out of the door behind him.

Donald and Goofy followed behind and ran with the people. Sora stopped as he and Vanitas looked back to see Hercules still struggling to hold up the ceiling over him.

"Herc!" Sora called out.

"I got him!" Vanitas announced.

He held up one hand and sent out a bit more force with his telekinesis to hold up the ceiling, and raised his other hand at Hercules. Vanitas exclaimed as he simultaneously held the roof over their friend and tugged him through the air towards himself and Sora. Of course, that ended up being stronger than he expected, because Hercules exclaimed as he flew through the air and crashed into them, pretty tackling them as they fell out of the crumbling building. The three landed roughly on the ground in front of the others, with Hercules on top of Sora and Vanitas.

"That is stronger than I expected," Vanitas commented, straining a bit because of the large, muscled man on top of him.

' _Okay, be careful with how you write, Kyle, because that just sounded really gay_ ,' Vanitas thought.

Everyone then winced as the building finished falling apart behind them, sending rubble all around, along with some smoke that covered them. They made sure to cover their faces to protect their eyes. Once the dust and smoke started to disappear, Hercules finally stood up off of Sora and Vanitas and let the cousins stand up in front of him. Donald and Goofy stepped up next to the doppelgängers.

"Thanks for the save," Hercules told Vanitas. "But it wasn't really necessary." He flexed his muscles. "Stuff like that is what these are for."

Donald and Goofy copied him and flexed their arms just like he was while Vanitas chuckled. However, all five of their attentions were drawn to the side at the sound of a dark corridor appearing. They turned towards the familiar sight to see Xigbar walking out towards them with a smile.

"Oh, wow!" he commented as he fake clapped. "Very nice, full marks."

"Go away!" Donald snapped as he and Goofy kept their arms up in the pose.

"No Organization!" Goofy added.

"You're Xigbar!" Sora said as he remembered the name from his Dream World.

"All this altruism is giving me the warm and fuzzies," Xigbar said with a small smile as he walked towards them.

"What about seeing an old friend after over a decade?" Vanitas asked with a small smile. "I remember everything now. How you used to be a normal apprentice to Ansem the Wise, before you were recruited by Xehanort."

"Oh, how fun!" Xigbar said with giddiness in his voice. "Now you can remember the good times we had when you were a Master!"

"If by 'good times', you mean 'the two times I kicked your ass by myself', then yeah, those were good times," Vanitas commented.

Xigbar sighed out, exactly the effect Vanitas was hoping for. However, he looked past Vanitas to the group as a whole as his small smile returned.

"So then, does having a heart of light come with a really good insurance policy?" he asked.

"Just say what you mean," Sora requested.

"Oh, but I did, though," Xigbar said with his usual cockiness. During his next words, he looked away and waved his hand before looking at the five again. "No good will ever come from putting other people first."

"I was able to save Meg's life because I was ready to risk my own," Hercules announced, placing a hand to his chest to emphasize his point.

"Because you've got friends in high places, you mean," Xigbar countered as he walked towards the remains of the building. "Tricks like that don't fly for your average joe."

That got Hercules to look down.

"What do you know?" Sora snapped at the sniper. "You weren't even there! If you were, you'd admire Herc's courage."

"You really know nothing about this dude, do you?" Vanitas asked his cousin.

"V's right," Xigbar agreed. "Only time I'll ever admit it."

Vanitas flipped him the bird.

"I don't admire one guy leaping into danger if it means someone else might have to jump in to save him," Xigbar announced. "You're all just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with ya. Oh, and you can spare me the usual party line. Yes, hearts are powerful when connected. But if you put too much of that power in one place, some of those hearts might end up breaking."

He turned towards them and pointed right at Sora.

"Still, Sora, that doesn't mean you should change," Xigbar continued. "Accept the power you're given. Find the hearts joined to yours."

"Why would I ever take advice from _you_?" Sora asked.

"Because we need to save my friends," Vanitas reminded Sora.

"He's got it!" Xigbar agreed, turning from the group. "You don't have any choice but to follow this sweet little trail of bread crumbs."

He started walking past the building and down the road he came from.

"And at the end, you'll finally realize what destiny has in store for you," Xigbar added. "In fact, your reward might be right around the corner. You're so close!"

He continued down the road as he laughed, becoming hidden by the smoke before he disappeared in the usual surge of darkness for teleportation.

"Hearts breaking?" Sora asked, looking down. "Whose hearts?"

"Sora, don't let him bother you," Hercules assured the brunette. "He's just trying to get under your skin 'cause he thinks he can."

"Yeah, that's how the prick does these things," Vanitas reminded Sora.

"But we'll prove him wrong," Hercules added. "We'll show him that our sacrifices haven't been for nothing.

Sora looked up at Vanitas and Hercules and smiled at the two.

"You're right," he agreed.

"Mm-hmm!" Goofy agreed. "Besides, we're already proof enough!"

"We're a team!" Donald exclaimed. "When we're together, we can do anything!"

"Yeah!" Sora agred.

"Come on, we're not done here yet," Vanitas announced, gesturing to the road in front of them with his head.

Donald, Goofy, and Hercules started down the road, but Vanitas stopped when he saw Sora looking back to where Xigbar had left.

"...What reward?" he asked himself, looking down.

"Who the hell knows?" Vanitas asked. "Guy's had a screw loose since the first time I knew him. But right now, we gotta worry about helping the last of these people."

Sora nodded his head in agreement and they walked down the road in front of them after their friends, ready to continue their work with helping the city of Thebes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I didn't even know there was a chest back there, I just did it for the hell of it 😂
> 
> *2 Those things were pretty cute
> 
> *3 I actually had to look up the point system of golf for that. I have a step grandfather that plays, and I've played quite a bit of mini golf, but I don't know shit about it


	3. Showdown with the Titans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After destroying the last of the Heartless in Thebes, the group moves on to help the gods against the Titans at Olympus...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They made it clear in the Everglow playthrough that I use for this that they don't use Attractions unless they're absolutely necessary, like with the Train in the Rock Titan/Entrance battle at the Keyblade Graveyard. They said they wanted to keep the battle serious.
> 
> Not gonna lie, I see where they're coming from. I always felt that Attractions made the boss battles a little less serious than they really are, especially with the music changing to Hand to Hand
> 
> I meant to get this chapter out a lot earlier than this. I planned to do it the other day, but it took me so long to write that day. I changed the plan to yesterday, but then the person who takes me to my prior engagements on Mondays picked me up a lot earlier than usual

With Xigbar gone and the people that were in the building safe, the group of five continued down the road, traversing down underpasses that served as alleys before they came across a brick wall with a giant hole in it. They walked in and found themselves in what Vanitas guessed was an aqueduct, if the water flowing from a grate in a wall next to them was any indication. Across the grate, next to them was a wall with a grate at the bottom that led out to the fountain back in the Agora, right where they needed to go.

"I got this," Vanitas announced, already guessing what his friends were planning.

He walked over to the wall and pulled out a grenade.

"I can do it with the Keyblade," Sora suggested.

"Or I can knock it to pieces with my fists," Hercules added.

"Too late!" Vanitas announced, pulling the pin from the grenade. "I already pulled the pin!"

He tossed the grenade to the wall and they all scattered so that they were safe from the explosion. The grenade went off, blowing a giant hole out into the fountain and back into the Agora. The group of five ran through to re enter the area...

And almost immediately got ambushed by a large Heartless called a Rock Troll, along with Soldiers appearing on either side of it.

"You're a big boy, eh!" Vanitas taunted, taking out his machete again. "Man, am I glad they also brought back The Encounter!" *** _1_ ***

The group shook off their confusion at Vanitas's words and faced the Troll. Sora blocked it as it swung its mallet into the ground, while Donald and Goofy got knocked aside from the impact. Sora charged at the head and started attacking, but then got knocked aside by a swipe from the Heartless's other hand. The others' immediate attentions were on the Soldiers. Hercules punched one aside, Goofy took one out by spinning around and attacking with his shield, Donald cast Fire and Blizzard on another, and Vanitas telekinetically threw one at the Rock Troll's head, destroying the Soldier and damaging the troll.

Sora repeatedly blasted Fire at the Rock Troll before knocking aside a Soldier with a combo attack. When he used the Grand Magic attack of Fira, it ended up going into another Soldier, destroying it instead of damaging the Rock Troll. The Troll then jabbed its club into the ground and started spinning around on it, sending rocks flying, which destroyed another set of nearby columns. Once the last Soldier was destroyed, Donald blasted Thunder at the Rock Troll, sending lots of electricity into its head. Goofy threw his shield at the Rock Troll while Hercules lunged forwards and slammed his fists into the ground, sending out a shockwave that damaged the Heartless. Sora attacked the Heartless until he got enough energy to start Second Form again, and started attacking with his old aerial combos.

Vanitas then decided to do some cool moves with his powers. After slashing the Heartless in the face with his flame encased machete, he backflipped away. When he landed, he discarded his machete and raised his hands in preparation as the Rock Troll swung its club at him. Vanitas caught the club and slammed it to the ground before jumping up and kicking it in the face, knocking it back and making it drop the club. Vanitas used his enhanced strength to lift it up with his hands and then lunged at the Rock Troll. He slammed the club into the Troll's head, releasing it so it ended up being spun up into the air. Vanitas then jumped up and gripped the club once more, yelling out as he slammed it into the Troll's face again really hard, knocking it onto its back.

Vanitas sighed out as he landed on his feet next to his friends, panting in and out from the effort.

"That was awesome!" Sora exclaimed.

"That really was!" Hercules agreed.

"Why did you use to be so reluctant to use your powers until now?" Donald asked.

"I'm asking myself that every day," Vanitas admitted.

However, Vanitas had dropped the club right next to the Rock Troll, so it grabbed its weapon and stood in front of them again. Vanitas used his telekinesis to grab his machete so they all kept attacking. Sora kept up attacking with his former aerial combo attacks, with the cool looking finishers as well, with the Magnet Burst even grabbing some other Soldiers. He, Donald, and Vanitas then started a team attack called Donald Meteor. Sora and Donald worked together to make meteors appear, and Vanitas cast them on fire, to add more oomph when they landed. Which it did, because the added fire ended up making the explosions even bigger, damaging the Rock Troll even more. That drained the Rock Troll of the remainder of its health, destroying it.

With the Rock Troll destroyed, the team regrouped nearby, with their weapons put away and Sora back to normal. Their attentions were soon drawn to the air as Pegasus flew down towards them with Meg and Phil on his back. He landed next to the group, and Meg and Phil looked at the boys.

"Nice job, Wonderboy," Meg complimented.

"Nice to see all that training paid off!" Phil added with a laugh.

"We checked the whole area," Meg told them. "It looks like everyone's safe."

Pegasus nodded in agreement.

"That's great," Hercules said. "We did what we could."

"You heroes have been busy little bees," Meg commented, with Phil nodding in agreement.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas exclaimed in thanks as they looked up at the two. Pegasus then neighed and looked up at the mountain in the distance, Meg's their attention.

"Oh... look," she said. "More trouble."

They followed her gaze up to the mountain, seeing that the clouds that covered the peak had gone black.

"It's Hades," Hercules announced.

Sora and Donald shared a nod of agreement, along with Vanitas and Goofy.

"Herc!" Sora said. "Let's go!"

"Right," Hercules agreed, smiling at the quartet.

Pegasus flew up into the air carrying Meg and Phil towards the mountain, and after Vanitas stopped at a nearby stand to grab some cheese and olives, the rest of the group followed on foot.

"Ever since I got my life force back, I've been getting hungry a lot more often," Vanitas explained as they started down the road out of town.

The others shrugged that off as they exited the town, soon finding themselves back out in the open area, at the bottom of a ravine path that led up the mountains.

"We need to get to the top of the mountain and stop Hades!" Hades announced.

"Let's go!" Vanitas announced through a mouthful of cheese.

They started down the path and started running down the side of the flowing river, which confused Hercules.

"That's odd," he commented. "The river's never this full."

They continued down the path as they traveled down the river and crossed over it on stones, taking out Heartless along the way. Pretty soon, they found themselves at a sort of crest for the river, and Water Cores flew out of the water and faced them.

"Guess now we know why the river's flooded," Hercules commented.

"Surprisingly, Fire works on these pricks," Vanitas announced.

"Really?" Sora asked.

He tested that claim out by launching Fire at the Water Cores, actually doing damage to the enemies, even ones that had cast water shields around itself. Donald helped by casting his own fire while Vanitas lobed fire balls at the enemies. Once Sora had gathered enough energy, he cast Grand Magic to shoot Fira at them, while Goofy threw his shield and Hercules punched them directly. Sora started Second Form as Hercules pulled a large bout of rock out of the ground and spun around, hitting the enemies with it. They kept attacking, with Sora doing his old combos, Goofy throwing his shield, Donald casting magic, Vanitas throwing fire balls, and Hercules swinging the giant rock.

Sora and Goofy sped things up by using Goofy Bombarder. The two jumped up into the air, and Sora tossed the dog to the ground, and he landed on the ground with his shield, causing the usual shock wave that did a lot of damage. Within moments, the rest of the Water Cores were destroyed, and the water of the river stopped flowing, reducing down to a simple puddle that traversed down the loft.

They continued through the mountain paths, going up walls, hopping across stone tops, and traversing through grass, all while battling Heartless along the way. Pretty soon, the group had reappeared in front of the statue of Zeus that the Gummi quartet had first fought Heartless on the world again. Of course, as they ran into the area in front of the statue, rocks came up from the ground behind them, blocking the way out.

"Oh, no!" Donald exclaimed as Earth Cores popped up out of the sand. "We're trapped!"

"Yeah, it's some kinda sandstorm!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah, caused by these pricks!" Vanitas exclaimed, gesturing to the Heartless spinning around and spraying sand.

Vanitas fired the reloaded Mossberg 500 shotgun at one of the Earth Cores while Sora started a combo attack, Hercules charged at the Heartless headfirst, Goofy swung his shield, and Donald kept casting spells. Sora cast Fire a lot at the enemies before he joined Donald and Vanitas in Flare Force, sending the mini explosives into all the Heartless. As the Earth Cores landed back on the ground, Donald destroyed one immediately with Blizzard while Vanitas took out another with another shotgun blast.

However, more soon followed, with one of them forming in the sand similar to a large snake body, with ridges in the neck similar to the ridges that were on its back. Sora exclaimed as the sand snake Earth Core knocked him back as it attacked him with sand. Pretty soon, everyone was getting knocked around by the charging Earth Cores, which very little of them were able to immediately recover from. *** _2_ ***

Luckily, Donald was able to help things a bit with Cure. Shortly after, Hercules ripped another large bit of rock out of the ground and attacked with it. Donald used an Ether to restore some of his magic, and almost immediately cast Blizzard and Thunder at the enemies. Vanitas swung his empty shotgun like a club into the Sand Snake Earth Core while Sora used combo attacks, which soon destroyed the beast. Goofy slid around on his shield like it was a sleigh to attack. With everyone chipping in, the Earth Cores were finished off within moments.

With the Heartless destroyed, they went up the cliff faces from before and down the various paths. The group continued down the path that the Gummi quartet had gone through last time, passing through a large cave and continued up an open cavern like area. Of course, their attentions were soon drawn to the ravine sides on the opposite sides of them shaking, giving a clear warning that bad things were gonna be happening soon. The Gummi quartet exclaimed in surprise as dust rained down from the ravine walls and landed on the ground next to them.

"This sure does feel awfully familiar..." Goofy said as he looked between the ravine walls.

"And not in a pleasant way," Vanitas agreed.

"Things are gonna go bad soon, aren't they?" Sora asked.

"Most likely," Donald admitted, a little worry in his voice.

"Guys, this is getting worse by the minute," Hercules announced. "I hope I'm wrong, but my family may need me."

He looked up and whistled with both fingers, getting Pegasus's attention. The horse with wings flew out from over a mountain over them and landed next to Hercules. Hercules patted his oldest friend on his back and looked over at the Gummi quartet.

"Sora, V, I'm gonna fly ahead," he told them. "You've been a big help, but... leave the rest to me."

"Family?" Sora asked as Hercules climbed onto Pegasus's back.

"Yeah," Hercules told them. "Dad's king of the gods."

' _And pretty much an immortal sperm bank_ ,' Vanitas thought with a smirk. ' _Well, in the real myths, not the Disney myths._ ' *** _3_ ***

Pegasus then flew up into the air, carrying Hercules on his back as they took the easy way up the mountains, flying up.

"Whaaat!?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed, surprising Vanitas.

"His father is a god?" Sora asked before looking at Vanitas. "Like you? But doesn't that mean Herc is a god, too? Or, demigod?"

"No, in this universe, Zeus is completely faithful and had Herc with his wife, Hera," Vanitas explained. "I guess that makes them my grandparents on this world. But here, Hades had his little slaves, Pain and Panic, kidnap Hercules when he was a baby and gave him a potion to drain him of his immortality. Since he never swallowed the last drop, he kept his god like strength, which is why he's so fucking tough. He trains to become a true hero so that he can finally reunite with them."

"Whoa..." Sora, Donald, and Goofy said in amazement.

"Wait, we've known him this whole time, and you guys never knew that?" Vanitas asked, both surprised and confused.

' _The first game came out in 2002, the game this story is based on came out in 2019,_ ' Vanitas thought. ' _You're telling me that in those seventeen years, these guys really never learned that little detail about one of our oldest friends, especially since this world has been included in almost every game?_ ' *** _4_ ***

"If he's part god, then he'll be okay," Goofy said as he stepped up next to Sora.

"Won't he?" Donald asked, stepping up on Sora's other side.

"No," Sora told them. "Organization XIII's here. He'll need our help."

"Good point," Goofy admitted. "We gotta go!"

"'Cause heroes never quit," Donald agreed as they turned towards the road in front of them.

Vanitas sensed that Sora was thinking back to Hercules's earlier words, remembering that he had said he wanted to save Meg with all his heart.

"We fight with all our heart," Sora muttered. He looked up in determination. "C'mon!"

The other three nodded their heads in agreement and they continued up the road. They went under a really small cavern made by rock and into another open area next to a mountainside. Of course, the ground shaking below them drew their attentions up again.

Far above them, the Rock Titan stood on a mountaintop high in the air, lifting a boulder in both its hands.

"Titan!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed.

"That motherfucker's gotten an improvement!" Vanitas exclaimed, seeing that the titan was much larger than when they had fought him in the Hades Cup a year ago.

They all moved out of the way as the boulder the Rock Titan had thrown towards them hit the ground, sending large pieces of rock fragments around, one of them blocking off their exit.

"Oh, this is gonna be epic," Vanitas breathed out, taking out his sledgehammer. He looked at it briefly. "Maybe I should've added that pickaxe to this arsenal."

He put that thought to the side and summoned his armor, flying up the mountainside as Sora ran up the wall, dodging rocks along the way. At one point, they stopped at one of the lower mountain tops as a large boulder shattered on the side, sending even more rock fragments to the ground below, completely covering all the grass. The sky got darker by the second as Sora kept running up the wall as Vanitas flew next to him. They continued up and kept dodging before the Rock Titan slammed its feet into the ground, sending even larger boulders at Sora. Vanitas used his flying maneuvers to dodge the boulders while Sora parkoured along them, running and leaping across the rocks as he jumped over them and onto the top part of the mountain. It was after Vanitas landed next to him that Donald and Goofy finally appeared again.

"Man I wish we could do that," Vanitas exclaimed once more as they pressed on.

They moved across the mountain top and started going through nearby caverns to go after the Rock Titan. Pretty soon, they came into a large area with part an open wall, revealing that it was now dark and raining outside. They had to stop for a bit here to take out Shadows and Air Soldiers, but they continued on once the Heartless were all destroyed. They exited the cavern and ran back out into the open area, as the rain kept pouring. The Rock Titan reached the top of the mountain high above them and threw a boulder down that missed Sora by inches. The impact of the rock took out some of the edge of the ground next to them, while also making more rock fragments fall and block off the exit behind them.

"Good!" Vanitas exclaimed, looking up the titan far above them. "No more running. Now we can settle this!"

The four of them continued along the mountainside until they reached the wall once more. Sora began running up while Vanitas flew up with his armor once more. After dodging even more rocks of varying sizes, they reached the peak, finding themselves face to face with the Rock Titan's feet.

That was when they started attacking. Sora used a combo attack on the left one while Vanitas swung his sledgehammer. They both dodged it as the Titan stomped his foot and sent out a shockwave before they resumed attacking. The Titan made rocks come up out of the ground, knocking back Sora as Donald and Goofy appeared, and the former shot Fire at the foot. Sora attacked until he got enough energy to start Second Form and used his old combo attacks, while Goofy spun around with his shield to attack the other foot, Donald joined Sora by casting spells on the right foot, and Vanitas joined Goofy in attacking the left with his sledgehammer.

They all did their best to dodge the rocks coming out of the ground, along with the shockwaves caused by the feet stomping on the ground. Of course, that didn't mean they were always successful. But, they managed to do some damage. They took out one foot with Sora, Donald, and Vanitas once more using Donald Meteor, and the other foot when Sora got enough energy to end Second Form with the attack Sonic Blade.

With his feet messed up, the Rock Titan fell back onto the large mountain side behind it, woozy. Sora jumped up the footholds along its body while Vanitas just flew up the Titan, and they both landed between the two heads. Sora did aerial combos against the right while Vanitas swung his sledgehammer at the left.

They then started the attraction Mountain Coaster, which Vanitas had to admit was fun. The flying train with tracks that appeared out of wherever flew towards them, and all four jumped into seats and rode on the Coaster as it flew around the Titan. Vanitas pulled out an M32A1 Grenade launcher and fired it at the Titan while flares shot out of the chimney and attacked the boss. They made sure to attack the weak spots, too, like the heads whenever they came close to them, or the fists when the Titan tried punching them. And they all made sure to be smart and jump up to block when the Titan tried elbowing them off of the train.

Eventually, they used the Coaster's Finish attack, which sent even more flares than they could count all across the Rock Titan's body, which ended both the attack and the fight. The quartet landed back on the mountaintop and watched as the Rock Titan fell over the edge, falling roughly down the mountain in front of them and towards the ground far below.

"Yes!" Sora exclaimed in victory. "That's one down!"

"They're not so tough by themselves," Goofy commented.

"That one was dumb as a rock," Donald added.

"That one _was_ a rock," Vanitas reminded the mallard with a smirk.

"Okay!" Sora said, looking over his friends. "What's next?"

"Three more titans," Vanitas reminded him as they turned towards the road next to them on the mountain summit.

They went down that road and across the mountain summit, with rain still drenching them as they ran. They entered a cavern pretty soon, so Vanitas helped warm and dry them up with small, not dangerous bits of fire around the four of them.

"Ooh, that feels good!" Goofy exclaimed as they warmed up.

"How come we never did that at other worlds?" Donald asked.

"Because it never rained on those other worlds," Vanitas reminded them. "Well, never too bad."

"Yeah, remember the Organization's world?" Sora asked. "It was a simple drizzle, even though it was thundering."

"Since when do you know what drizzle means?" Donald asked Sora.

"Hey," Sora snapped with a frown. "V helped teach me a few things during our break. Like how to drive a car."

"He almost killed us all," Vanitas commented as they went further into the cavern.

Pretty soon, they ended up coming to a dead end, with a large bunch of rocks forming a wall, with light peeking through.

"I got this," Vanitas said, taking out another grenade.

He set the grenade down on one of the rocks, making sure that it was in a position that it wouldn't fall. Once he knew that it was braced carefully, he pulled the pin, and the quartet scattered once more. The explosion sent bits of rocks flying, which thankfully never damaged the four. Once the explosion ended, light flared brightly in front of the group, and once they could see again, they were amazed at the sight in front of them.

The path continued, but the ground changed into sturdy cloud of a large circular area, with a staircase the same color as the clouds leading up to a golden gate, with everything past blocked by the light of the sun.

"It's this easy to get into Olympus?" Vanitas asked with a frown. "At least in Percy Jackson, there's a doorman you need to get a key for the elevator from."

"What are you talking about?" Donald asked.

"A book on Earth that places these dudes in the world similar to mine, where they're still around having babies with mortals," Vanitas explained. "The biggest landmarks of Olympus can be accessed through the biggest landmarks in America. Demigods can reach Olympus through the Empire State Building."

"Nice," Sora commented, remembering when they had visited that building with Kairi back when they were at Earth 616. He almost fell off.

"Come on," Vanitas announced.

They went up the staircase, which took them quite a while due to how large the staircase was. The gates opened for them, and they continued up the staircase, soon coming to a large set of double doors that also opened up for them, revealing a large atrium with lots of designs from columns and clouds. Above them in the air was even part of a walkway held up by a large amount of solid clouds, which lead further up into the air. The quartet exclaimed in amazement as they looked around the large atrium.

"Is this... Olympus?" Sora asked, looking around with a wide smile.

"Gawrsh, it's amazing!" Goofy exclaimed.

They were all surprised when the fanfare of the coliseum started playing. They all remembered the sound of the fanfare, because it was what would play while they fought in the Games back at the coliseum about a year ago.

"The fanfare?" Donald asked.

"Nope!" Sora exclaimed, summoning his Keyblade and standing ready.

A lot of Heartless called Satyrs appeared in front of them, the masks of their armor up for seconds before they closed and covered their faces. The Satyrs charged forwards together, and while they tried to block, everyone ended up knocked aside. The Satyrs ran all around the area, knocking columns to pieces by the second. Sora kept sliding around, attacking with Fire while Donald did the same, and Vanitas fired a revolver. Of course, since all the Heartless had armor, they couldn't be damaged. Luckily, all of them shared the same armor expense, so each burst of fire or stray bullet took apart the armor in each one of them.

Pretty soon, they started a team attack of Unity Guard, where they all got behind Goofy's shield and attacked together with it. Pretty soon, they had destroyed every bit of armor and attacked the Heartless with the shield. Pretty soon, they had to end the attack, so they did the Finish attack of charging forwards together, taking out more than a couple of the Satyrs. But there were a lot left, so they took to their usual methods of fighting the enemies. A few combo and Flowmotion attacks from Sora, a couple of spin attacks from Goofy, more than a couple of spells from Donald, and a few more machete swings from Vanitas, and all the Satyrs were destroyed.

"Hercules must be at the top," Donald assessed.

They went across the atrium and up a couple of staircases and walkways, finding a veritable maze in front of them. There were multiple pathways in front of them, all of which Vanitas sensed would lead them to where they needed to go. During this, Sora got to try out his newly learned Shotlock attacks, King of Hearts and Ragnarok.

"At least now you can freely do that," Vanitas commented about one of Sora's oldest attacks.

He and Sora even learned how to ride along rail gauntlets, which led them further up into the air and further up the path. Pretty soon, they had reached a point where Vanitas sensed that they were close enough, but just far on the ground below the actual place they needed to reach. Luckily, there was a purplish storm that had large bits of broken ceramic around.

"There's our ticket up," Sora announced, gesturing to a ledge above them.

He lunged up in a way that Vanitas sensed was called Airstepping, and jumped from bit of ceramic to bit of ceramic, landing on the ledge.

"Wow," Vanitas said, impressed. "Nice to see they also let him do that freely."

Vanitas decided to say screw it to the armor and followed Sora's example, Airstepping up the various parts pieces in the storm to get higher and higher up. Within about two minutes, they had reached the Apex, just outside a gigantic circular chamber separated by an open golden gate, where they could see a gigantic obsidian pillar leading high in the air, with the other three titans surrounding it, and Hades to the side watching.

"Okay, this'll be an interesting fight," Vanitas simply said as they ran towards the gate.

"I swear to you, Hades, when I get out of this..." they started to hear Zeus yell before the voice was cut off by the obsidian being made by the Ice and Lava Titans.

"No, I'm the one giving orders now, bolt boy," Hades said as he rested on a black throne formed by smoke.

"Don't get too comfortable, Hades!" Hercules exclaimed.

The Lord of the Dead looked up and turned around in surprise to see Hercules charging towards him on Pegasus's back with a sword in his hand.

"We're gonna stop you!" Sora announced, drawing the god's attention away from Hercules.

Standing in their battle stances, the Gummi quartet looked up at Hercules, who smiled at them in return. Still on Pegasus's back, he flew down to the chained gods and used his sword to cut their restraints, releasing Apollo, Athena, and Hermes. Hades exclaimed in anger, soon turning red out of rage.

"Get them!" Hades bellowed, pointing towards the group.

The Titans, living up to their names since they were taller than some buildings Vanitas had seen, started shuffling towards the quartet on the ground. Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprise, and a little bit of fear, while Vanitas laughed, ready for a real challenge.

"Sora, V, Donald, Goofy!" Hercules exclaimed above them.

The quartet looked up to see Hercules jump down from Pegasus and land next to them. He stood up next to the group, ready.

"It's on!" Hercules announced.

"Yeah!" the Gummi quartet all exclaimed in agreement.

"This is some bitching music!" Vanitas exclaimed, only summoning his boots at the moment. *** _5_ ***

They tried charging forwards, but the Tornado Titan used its winds to force everyone back towards the gates behind them. They then had to dodge as the Lava then Ice Titans blasted beams of their respective elements at the team out of their mouths. Sora Airstepped to the Lava Titan's head and tried to attack, but it quickly pulled pack and sent out lots of balls of lava to attack. Vanitas took advantage of that with his telekinesis. He grabbed at as many of the lava orbs as he could with his telekinesis at a time, sending them into the Ice Titan instead, burning the ice prick.

Sora Airstepped back up to the Lava Titan and kept doing aerial combos while Donald, Goofy, and Hercules climbed up the obsidian pire Zeus was trapped in to try to help. Donald was smart and blasted the Ice Titan with Fire and the Lava Titan with Blizzard, Goofy alternated with whichever titan he was throwing his shield at, while Hercules threw large pieces of ground he had pulled out of the floor. Vanitas flew up with his boots and threw fire balls at the Ice Titan while firing his Sadu ASALT 96 at the Lava Titan. When Donald and Goofy landed back on the ground, the Ice Titan sent ice shards at the two, and Vanitas used his telekinesis to send them into the Lava Titan.

Sora had attacked the Lava Titan enough times that he ignited Second Form, but had to put aside attacking since they were so large that their slightest movements made it hard for him to reach them. He was able to get back on top of the obsidian pire and block the Lava Titan's beam before he had to resign to the Finish attack Stun Impact. Donald and Goofy got on top of the pire after Sora leaped off and started to plummet to the ground. Donald kept alternating magic while Goofy kept alternating with each Titan he threw his shield at.

Vanitas flew up onto the pire as Donald and Goofy fell off and raised his arms to each Titan in preparation. Luckily, both of them launched their projectiles at the same time. Vanitas was able to catch the ice shards with his left hand and lots of the fire balls with his right. He twirled around as he sent the projectiles into the titans of the opposite powers. The Ice Titan exclaimed from the Lava orbs while the Lava Titan exclaimed from the Ice Shards. While the others on the ground dodged ice shards popping out of the ground and more lava blasts, Vanitas fired a beam of fire out of his hands at the Ice Titan and started firing his Romanian SMG at the Lava Titan again, damaging both at once.

Vanitas piloted up with his boots once more as Donald and Goofy climbed up the pire. Donald blasted the Ice Titan with Fire while Goofy swung his shield into the same Titan's face, while Sora used more aerial combos against the Lava Titan. Vanitas fired his automatic at the Lava Titan while Hercules threw rocks at the Titans. Just as Sora entered Second Form, the Tornado Titan sent the group flying back towards the gate once more with its winds.

Once the winds wore off, Sora Airstepped back up to the Lava Titan and attacked with his old aerial combos while Vanitas punched or kicked the Ice Titan right in the face. After Sora attacked enough and got enough energy for Sonic Blade, Vanitas used his telekinesis once more to to catch a lot of the Lava Titan's projectiles and throw them at the Ice Titan. Vanitas landed on top of the pire and got an idea.

"Hey! Bitch!" Vanitas bellowed at the Ice Titan.

The Ice Titan looked down at Vanitas and was about to launch the ice shards, but then Vanitas disappeared with his teleporting ability. The Ice Titan looked surprised (the others thought it did since it didn't have eyes), looking around in confusion.

' _Jackass!_ ' the Ice Titan heard Vanitas's head in its voice, coming from the left.

The Ice Titan roared out as it looked to the left, expecting to see the ravenette. But then Vanitas teleported next to the right side of its face and lunged forwards, using his enhanced strength and punching it right in the face, knocking out one of the ice shard teeth.

"Nice!" Sora complimented.

"Oh, that's gonna come in handy in the future," Vanitas said with a laugh as he landed on the obsidian pire with his cousin.

Sora then jumped towards the Ice Titan, thankful that he still had enough energy for Sonic Blade. He slid through the air from one direction to another, attacking the Ice Titan's head a bunch of times. *** _6_ ***

Sora then jumped towards the Lava Titan and attacked some more with aerial combos while Donald, Hercules, and Goofy climbed up the pire. Hercules punched the Ice Titan in the face, Goofy threw his shield at the Lava Titan, Donald blasted the Lava Titan with Blizzard, and Vanitas took his gun back out and slipped a new magazine inside. He fired at the Ice Titan while Sora finally cast Water on the Lava Titan. However, during Sora's second attempt to cast Water, the Tornado Titan blew its winds at them, forcing them across the area once more.

Vanitas flew up carrying Donald towards the Titans while Sora Airstepped at the Lava Titan and kept attacking. Vanitas and Donald hit the Ice Titan with lots of Fire while Sora started Second Form, then immediately ended it by performing Stun Impact, finishing off the Lava Titan. So, everyone directed their attentions entirely to the Ice Titan. Hercules climbed up onto the pire with Sora and threw a piece of ground at the Titan, doing some damage. Sora and Hercules then started a team attack where Sora got up on Hercules's shoulders and they spun around to attack. It only did a little bit of damage, but they ended the attack with Hercules throwing Sora up into the air, and he jabbed his Keyblade into the Ice Titan's head, finishing off the Titan.

Everyone landed back on the ground and looked up as the Tornado Titan floated up into better view.

"Just one Titan left!" Sora announced.

Clouds formed on the ground as the Titan kept floating towards them. Pretty soon, the clouds had covered the ground, but they picked up the group and lifted them up into the air. The clouds turned out to be solid, which gave them a good place to fight the Tornado Titan on top of.

The five of them charged at the Titan, with Sora starting by spamming fire that didn't hit until the Tornado Titan pointed its head at them. The Fire hurt the Titan, but at the same time, the Titan sent very large pieces of building at the team, which they had to work hard to dodge. It was watching the Fire hit the winds from the Titan that Vanitas got an idea. He raised his hands and sent out his telekinesis, moving his hands around to contain the Titan in a sphere of energy, similar to how he had seen Aqua restrain the Demon Tide in the realm of Darkness when she battled it with Mickey. He exclaimed in effort as he forced the Tornado Titan down into a sphere, right above the clouds and next to his friends.

"Whoa!" Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules exclaimed in amazement.

"Hurry up and attack as much as you can; this hurts!" Vanitas exclaimed in effort. "It's making my eyeballs itch!"

The others didn't hesitate to listen to him. Sora spammed Fire and attacked with combos. Donald cast various spells and whacked the trapped Titan with his staff. Goofy slammed his shield into the enemy and spun around to attack lots of times. Hercules punched the Titan twice before lunging forwards and slammed his fists into the ground, sending out a shockwave that damaged the enemy. Hercules and Sora then started the team attack again, with Sora on the god's shoulders as they spun around to attack with a veritable tornado. Hercules then launched Sora up, and he jabbed his Keyblade into the sphere as he landed, causing quite a bit of damage to the Titan.

Of course, pretty soon, Vanitas had to release the Titan from the prison he had forced it into, exclaiming as he let go of his telekinetic abilities, then immediately rubbed his eyes to try to alleviate the intense itch that had grown.

The Tornado Titan decided to be smart. It floated up and aimed its tornado arms at the five, sucking them up further into the air, making all of the boys exclaim in shock and surprise. They were all thrown high up into the air, particularly Sora and Vanitas. The cousins then started to plummet towards the Titan as the others disappeared. As they plummeted, they had to dodge as the Titan shot pieces of buildings and fire balls up at the two. Once they got close enough, Sora and Vanitas both did devastating attacks to the Titan, with Sora slamming his Keyblade and Vanitas doing an elbow slam, both of which did quite a bit of damage to the Titan.

The Tornado Titan forced Sora and Vanitas back with its winds, but instead of falling towards the ground, the cousins ended up floating in the air as they still faced the Titan. They dodged the debris the Titan shot at them while Airstepping closer and closer to the enemy. They got close enough to attack, so Sora used aerial combos while Vanitas swung his axe into the living tornado. As Sora started Second Form, the Titan then floated down into the clouds and reappeared over the Ice Titans, using it to shoot ice shards at the cousins.

The duo managed to Airstep out of the way of the shards while Vanitas retaliated with fire balls. Luckily, the Titan floated down and reappeared next to them once again, giving them the chance to attack. Sora used his old aerial combos once more while Vanitas kept swinging his axe, before Sora ended Second Form with Sonic Blade. The Tornado Titan floated down and reappeared over the Lava Titan and started shooting lava orbs up into the air that rained down towards the cousins. Vanitas exclaimed and grabbed Sora's arm, carrying his cousin through the air with his boots.

The Tornado Titan then floated down and reappeared back in the center of the area. Sora and Vanitas Airstepped through the air and got close to the Titan again. Vanitas kept swinging his axe while Sora did more aerial combos. They kept attacking until Sora finished off the boss with the Shotlock King of Hearts, ending the fight.

With the Titan defeated, the winds and clouds faded, bringing the team of five back to the ground, where they were once again facing the Ice, Tornado, and Lava Titans. The ground then shook as the Rock Titan jumped up over the side of the circular area, roaring out in preparation for fighting. Donald exclaimed in worry with Goofy.

"Uh, oh!" Goofy exclaimed. "Now it's all four of them."

"So what?" Sora asked. "There's five of us."

"It's no challenge here," Vanitas added, pointing his axe towards the Titans.

"Actually, I think I can make it six," Hercules announced.

Hercules lunged towards the obsidian pire and exclaimed as he tugged at the rock with his bare hands. The rock cracked, releasing some light. Within barely seconds, the rock was torn apart, releasing a gleeful Zeus with a flare of light.

"No!" Hades bellowed in fear.

"Thank you, my boy," Zeus laughed, placing his hands on Hercules's shoulders in gratefulness.

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed as he, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy cheered.

"Fuck out!" Vanitas exclaimed.

"Hah!" Zeus laughed, lifting up lightning bolts in his hands. "Hah! Now, watch your old man work!"

The Rock and Ice Titans lifted their heads up in fear. Zeus threw two lightning bolts at once, both of them hitting each of the heads on the Rock Titan. The titans all turned and started running trying to escape. The Lava Titan led the way, followed by the Ice Titan, who was followed by the Rock Titan, with the Tornado Titan taking up the rear. But, since they were massive in size, they moved at a pretty slow pace.

So, Hercules was able to catch up with the Tornado Titan and grab it with his hands. He yelled in effort as he spun the Titan around and pointed it at the other three Titans, sucking them into the tornado. He then yelled out in more effort as he spun the Tornado Titan a few more times before throwing it up into the air. The Tornado Titan flew up through the air and into the stars with the other three titans within, and they soon exploded in a large blast, destroying all four titans.

Hercules and Zeus shared a gleeful high five over their victory.

"We did it!" Goofy exclaimed as the Gummi quartet did the same, sharing high fives in victory.

Hades yelled out in anger at the event, though.

"I can't believe it!" he snapped. "I've put eighteen years into that plan, and you've blippin' ruined it!"

Hades pointed at the Gummi quartet and snapped, "I _really_ don't like you!"

"Just give it up already!" Sora told him, with Donald and Goofy nodding their heads in agreement. "You'll never beat Herc, no matter how many times you try."

"Yeah, stay in the Underworld where ya belong," Goofy added.

"Go have the time of your afterlife," Donald added.

Vanitas was the only one of his friends that didn't feel like insulting Hades here. He still believed his earlier thoughts about how Hades didn't deserve as much hate as he got since the man had gotten the bum deal when the Big Three were dividing up the world and deciding who would rule which realm.

"Enough already!" Hades snapped at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "I did not come this far to be ridiculed by Zeusy high and mighty, his little sunspot, and a group of clowns!"

During the last insult, the god turned red with rage once more.

"You know what?" Hades asked. "I'll just go ahead and destroy you!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood in their battle stances again.

"Hades," Hercules said. The god slowly turned around to see Zeus and Hercules smiling cockily at him. Hercules gestured to the gateway behind them and said, "The exit is that way."

Hades sighed out as his skin turned back to its blue tone. He looked over his shoulder at the four and grumbled as he started walking towards the gates again.

"Hold on, I almost forgot," Hercules said. Hades turned back around, and got punched right in the face by Hercules, knocking him to the ground. "That one's for trying to wreck Thebes."

"Wow," Vanitas said, looking over Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hercules, and Zeus. "You guys are all dicks."

"What?" Sora asked as all five looked at the ravenette in surprise.

"How are we dicks?" Donald asked with a frown.

"Guys, when Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were dividing up the big realms after they beat the Titans, Zeus got to rule over the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the Underworld," Vanitas reminded them. "Zeus and Poseidon got to rule over freaking beautiful domains, and Hades got the bum deal with the Underworld. And we've all seen that shithole."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hercules, and Zeus winced in agreement.

"And to make matters worse," Vanitas continued as Hades stood up. "He's barely allowed back on Olympus to see everyone, and when he is, everyone but Zeus treats him like dirt. Doesn't it make a bit of sense that the guy's gonna be pissed at everyone for doing that to him?"

Zeus and Hercules exclaimed, now feeling awkward.

"You... may have a point, young man," Zeus admitted.

"And then you guys are constantly raving him for the evil things he's done," Vanitas told his ship mates. "That just makes him feel worse!"

"Oh, man," Goofy said in embarrassment.

"You're right," Donald said. "We are dicks."

"I'm not justifying what he did to Thebes and what he did with Titans," Vanitas admitted. "But don't you think that could have been avoided if he wasn't treated so badly?"

Hades looked at the ravenette in surprise, not expecting someone who had kicked him below the belt the first time they met to actually stick up for him. *** _7_ ***

"He does have a point, dad," Hercules agreed with Vanitas, looking up at Zeus.

"That he does," Zeus agreed, looking at Hades. "I'm sorry, brother. I'm not gonna let you off the hook for this incident." He pointed at Hades to emphasize that point. "But we can probably figure out something to let you come back up more often, and get everyone else to stop harassing you when you do come up."

"Really?" Hades asked in surprise. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course!" Zeus said with a laugh while raising his arms. "We're family!"

Hades laughed at Zeus in an actually genuine way before looking down at Vanitas.

"Thanks, kid," he said.

"No problem," Vanitas assured his great uncle (sort of) with a small nod and smile.

"Never figured you'd be the one to help point this stuff out to us," Sora admitted with a small chuckle and a pat on his cousin's shoulder.

"You got that right," Vanitas agreed with his own small chuckle.

The team of five left the brothers and travelled back down Olympus and left the golden gates of Olympus, right back at the golden stairs and solid cloud ground that led back to the mortal world. Hercules stopped as they exited the gate and looked back to the golden city.

"Are you sure you want to leave all this behind?" Sora asked as the Gummi quartet walked back towards Hercules.

"Isn't Olympus your home?" Goofy asked.

"And your family," Donald added.

"It's where he was born," Vanitas told them. "But you choose your own home."

"Yeah," Hercules agreed, looking back at the city again. "I can see my family anytime I want." He looked at the four again. "If I stay, I'd have to be apart from the person I love most... and that life would be empty."

He looked down the staircase to see Meg at the bottom, staring up at him in worry. Hercules smiled.

"I finally know where I belong," he announced.

Hercules started running down the stairs and embraced Meg in a hug. The Gummi quartet walked down the stairs after the demigod and smiled at the two. Hercules then looked up in realization and looked at them.

"Sora, we never got back to your question," he said. "Can I help?"

"Mmm, it's okay," Sora assured him with a shake of the head even though he was still smiling. "I think I'm meant to figure it out for myself. I'll find my strength the way you found yours. Something to fight for... with all my heart."

"That's the way to do it," Vanitas said with a smile, patting his cousin on the shoulder.

"I guess you _did_ have the answer," Sora told Hercules with a smile.

"Well, you've got heart, Sora," Hercules told him. "Just keep at it and I know you'll be stronger than ever."

"Yeah, I might even end up stronger than _you_ are," Sora said with a smirk as he flexed his almost nonexistent muscles.

Donald frowned in annoyance.

"There he goes again," Donald sighed out.

"You do remember that Sora had beat Hercules in the Coliseum by himself a year ago, remember?" Vanitas asked Donald.

"Why'd you have to bring that back up?" Hercules asked, smiling in embarrassment.

The group started laughing, both content with a job done and happy with sharing a small moment of friendship together...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 The Encounter was one of my favorite Disney Boss themes. When I played Birth By Sleep as a kid and got to the Mirage Arena match where you fight the Ice Titan, I would just leave that thing paused for a while to listen to the theme for a while. I didn't get a laptop until I turned eleven, so that was the best I could do
> 
> *2 I really hated that it took so long after this world for us to learn Aerial recovery
> 
> *3 I had an old friend my freshman year of high school, according to another friend of mine, when they ended up having to do a small project about the Greek Gods, he wrote on a big poster calling Zeus a sperm back and just went around the classroom showing it off to everyone, real proud of the poster. I am still so sad that I missed witnessing that 😂
> 
> *4 That was, like, my immediate thought when Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprise at Hercules's revelation. Like I have V think, they really never learned that with how many times they've been to this world?
> 
> *5 They really had the Information bar for this battle read "Clash with the Titans!" They knew what they were doing 😂
> 
> *6 I was really glad when they allowed the special attacks and being able to block while in the air with this game. After doing it this game, i got a little too used to it and ended up messing up a couple of times while playing Birth By Sleep again recently. The only one it worked with was Aqua, partly 'cause of her barrier
> 
> *7 I'm aware that it's probably surprising that Vanitas would be the one to help everyone see that. You gotta admit, Hades is justified for being angry in that movie, 'cause everyone did treat him badly in his first scene. I figured it would be Vanitas to be the one to point it to everyone to help show how much he's changed
> 
> I remember, when I was a kid, I was kind of impartial to the Kingdom Key Keyblade for, years. But watching Everglow's Timeline, during which he always only used a Kingdom Key for Sora, I grew a bit of an appreciation for it. To the point that when we got options for multiple Keyblades, that one was ALWAYS in the roster. Hell, nowadays when I play, I keep the main Keyblade the whole time unless I'm on a world where I got another Keyblade, then I would use that Keyblade.
> 
> Something that can make adding the other party members' attacks difficult here is that when they're not in your POV, it's heard to actually see what they're doing, which is even harder now that there can be up to four other party members. I had to guess a bit for Hercules this chapter.


	4. The Realm of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving Olympus, Vanitas has a duo of visions, one of enemies and another of friends...

The four climbed back into the Gummi ship and started their trek back to Yen Sid's tower to report the consequences of their trip. Along the way, Vanitas winced as he grabbed his forehead, seeing Maleficent and Pete back in the gardens in Thebes. They had broken apart the road and Pete was digging in the dirt.

"Are you sure this box with the Book of Prophecies is for reals?" Pete asked as he kept digging with his bare hands. "I think that dingbat in black was pulling your leg."

"Be quiet and dig, you imbecile," Maleficent told Pete. "I must find that Book of Prophecies and make it my own. His was the only clue we have. We cannot afford to dismiss it without a thorough investigation."

Pete exclaimed as he kept digging. "I'm just sayin', a shot in the dark ain't gonna get us any closer to..."

He stopped and looked down in surprise as he realized he struck something.

"What is it?" Maleficent asked. "Have you found something? Show it to me at once, you fool."

Vanitas winced in worry as he realized that they had indeed found something in the dirt. If this was the same box that Luxu had hidden...

But his worry was relieved as Pete lifted up a purple box with a skull design on the front in both hands.

"Yes sir-eesy, this has gotta be that Pandora's Box Hades mentioned," Pete announced.

He showed the box to Maleficent, who studied it. After a second, she looked to the side and announced, "Leave it."

"What?" Pete asked, deflated. "After all that diggin'?"

"That is not the box which I desire," Maleficent said, turning away from the holes in the ground. "We are finished with this world. Come."

"Awww...." Pete whined as Maleficent started walking away.

Pete looked down in contemplation at Pandora's Box, then frowned as he tossed it over his shoulder, back into the dirt. He climbed out of the hole and followed Maleficent down the road. Unbeknownst to the both of them, Xigbar was watching their progress from atop a nearby bit of mountains.

"May your heart be your guiding key," Xigbar said, surprising Vanitas, as he didn't expect the sniper to know the phrase.

"Picture this: a black goat stashes away a letter..." a familiar voice announced from somewhere, surprising Xigbar. He looked to the right, where the voice was originating from. "...then orders a white goat to search for it."

Darkness surged nearby on the mountain, and when it stopped, a now golden eyed Luxord was standing atop and staring at Xigbar.

"What could his intentions possibly be?" Luxord asked with a suspicious frown.

"Great, a riddle," Xigbar commented as he turned towards his former teammate. "Just what I need."

Luxord held up his right hand, which caused one of his cards to appear.

"There are many possibilities," Luxord continued. He looked down and had his card disappear into his sleeve again. "Perhaps he's forgotten where it's hidden..." He pulled another card out with his other hand. "...or, he's playing a prank..." He reached into his sleeves again and pulled out four cards in each hand. He then started shuffling them as he continued, "...or, the letter has truly gone missing."

He raised his hands, showing that the cards were gone again.

"I can think of several reasons offhand," Luxord admitted. "Guessing... is simply useless."

Xigbar sighed out in annoyance at Luxord's riddle.

"Well, then just follow your orders, plain and simple," he told Luxord.

Luxord started slipping cards out and fiddling with them, slipping a few back into his sleeve.

"Yes, that's what I've always done," Luxord said as he kept fiddling with his cards. "I followed the orders from above without question." He looked at Xigbar. "However, I sometimes can't help but read into my opponent's strategy."

He tapped a finger to his forehead to emphasize his point.

Xigbar chuckled, "Too long on the job?"

"If the contents of the box are so unknown, why is it of such critical importance to the Organization?" Luxord asked, which made a chill run up Vanitas's spine.

He wasn't too worried about Maleficent or Pete finding the box, since they had beaten the duo on more than one occasion at this point. But if the Organization was after the box Luxu had hidden... things would be _fucked_.

"Furthermore, was it Xehanort or Xemnas who gave the order?" Luxord asked, looking at Xigbar suspiciously.

"Well, it's tricky," Xigbar said.

Luxord cocked his head to the side.

"All Xehanort cares about is the clash between the eight lights and thirteen darknesses," he said, looking forwards again. "It's unlikely he would hold such an interest in this mysterious box." During his next words, he turned towards Xigbar. "Which means, the order was issued by... Xemnas, or the one who informed me of my task: you."

"As if!" Xigbar said, placing a hand to his hip with a smile and a closed eye. "It musta been Xemnas."

"My inquiries suggested otherwise," Luxord told him.

Xigbar looked up in surprise.

"Oh, man... you asked him?" he asked.

"What are your intentions?" Luxord asked.

"Look, I don't know what's inside the box," Xigbar told him. "But, it's been protected by Keyblade wielders since way back when. Aren't you curious? I heard it contains information that's vital to all Keyblade wielders: secrets."

"And where did you hear this?" Luxord asked.

Xigbar placed a hand on the back of his head as he looked up in thought.

"Hmm, I don't remember," he said in a way that even Vanitas knew was kind of fake. "I keep my eyes and ears wide open, but I've travelled to so many different places, it's hard to keep everything straight, y'know?"

Luxord frowned and made a slashing motion, throwing the card in his hand towards Xigbar. Xigbar caught the card and looked towards Luxord, who still had his hand pointed at the older man.

"If this box is truly as important as you say, why now?" Luxord asked. "I believe that you discovered that others also seek it, and you need to find it before anyone else does, in order to keep your connection to the box a secret from those around you."

Luxord smirked which dropped after a couple of seconds.

"Xigbar, who are you really?" he asked.

Xigbar breathed out as he looked at Luxord. The two men stared at each other in contemplation for more than a couple of seconds.

"No matter," Luxord said, lowering his arm. "It doesn't make a difference to me." He turned away from Xigbar with a smile. "It's all the same. I'm content to feign ignorance."

Darkness surged around the blonde man, making him disappear. Xigbar simply tossed the card to the ground and looked at where Luxord disappeared with his hands on his hips.

"The question is, who are you, Luxord?" Xigbar asked the air.

The vision shifted to show Riku and Mickey in the dark realm, dressed in the new clothes that Yen Sid had granted them, both of which reminded Vanitas a bit of Brain's clothes, with the v-neck shirts and leather jackets. Riku stopped and looked down in thought, and Mickey kept on for a few steps. Once he realized Riku had stopped, the king turned towards the silver haired teen.

"What's wrong, Riku?" he asked. "Are you tired? Do you need a break? We can stop."

"No, just..." Riku said. "I've been here. I should know this place." He looked to the side with a smile. "But that all seems like another life."

"Well, gee," Mickey said, walking back towards Riku. "Think of all you've seen! All the feelings you've felt. Why, you've done years of growin' in almost no time at all."

"I remember my first time here," Riku said, looking down at the mouse. "I was so scared." He chuckled and looked at his gloved right hand. "But now, my doubts and fears are gone. If anything, I feel exhilarated." He gripped his fist in determination. During his next words, he placed his hand to his chest. "And it's not because there's darkness in me... I know too well what that rush is like. This is different. And it's not adrenaline, either. I know Aqua needs us... But I'm ready. I'm in control now."

He chuckled.

"Maybe it's because you're with me this time," Riku told Mickey.

Mickey shook his head, but the smile never left his face. *** _1_ ***

"It's not me," he assured Riku. "I think it's because you've finally found inside you that special strength to protect what matters."

"What?" Riku asked.

"Sometimes you care so much for somebody that other feelings disappear," Mickey explained. "And then, there's no room for fear or doubt."

Riku looked at his hand with a smile again.

"Is that it?" he asked.

Riku had his own flashback to when he had gripped Terra's Keyblade, when the brunette had passed on the Keyblade to him.

"'Strength to protect what matters'..." Riku repeated Terra's words. "It reminds me of a promise I made."

"To who?" Mickey asked.

"Just someone I once met," Riku said with a whimsical tone to his voice that surprised Vanitas. "Can't tell."

"Sounds like a good memory," Mickey commented.

"Yeah," Riku said with a small smile. "While we're reminiscing... Mickey, does any of this look familiar?"

"Sort of, but the realm of darkness has changed since I was here with Aqua," Mickey admitted, looking to the side.

"Yeah, it's different from what I remember," Riku agreed, looking to the side.

"Usually, I'd just follow my heart, and Aqua would show me the way," Mickey said. He turned away from Riku and walked a few steps forwards. "But the closer I get, the hazier our connection feels."

"You mean..." Riku started.

"Maybe, but we can't give up hope," Mickey said, turning towards Riku again.

"Yeah," Riku agreed with a nod of the head.

They continued along through the dark realm, and soon found themselves back on the dark beach that Riku, Sora, and Vanitas had ended up after they defeated Xemnas, the same place that Vanitas remembered seeing Aqua and Ansem the Wise together.

"This beach..." Riku said in remembrance.

"It's gone..." Mickey said, walking forwards.

"Huh?" Riku asked.

"I'm positive Aqua was here," Mickey said. He turned towards Riku again. "But now... her trail's gone dim."

Riku looked around.

"I've been here, too," he said. "With Sora and V."

"Really?" Mickey asked.

"This is where we found our way back to the realm of light," Riku explained. "Hey, maybe Aqua did, too!"

Mickey shook his head in sadness and looked to the side.

"Aqua... has fallen into an even darker abyss... somewhere I can't see her," he explained. "And I don't think we're equipped to dive any deeper than we already are."

"So then..." Riku started.

They were interrupted by Shadows appearing and quickly surrounding the duo as they stood back to back.

"Oh, no!" Mickey exclaimed, summoning his Kingdom Key D.

"What!?" Riku asked in surprise, summoning his Way to the Dawn.

"Riku... be careful," Mickey warned. "Even the least threatening Heartless are stronger in this realm."

"I got it," Riku assured him.

The Shadows stood still for a few seconds before they all charged towards the water. They all gathered together in a black puddle together before rising over Riku and Mickey, forming the Demon Tower. The two stood ready as the Demon Tower charged. *** _2_ ***

Riku blocked with a barricade as the Tower slammed to the ground in front of him, and countered with a blast from his Keyblade. Riku started a wicked looking combo attack while Mickey lunged forwards and swung his Keyblade multiple times. Riku landed back on the ground and blasted the Tower with Thundaga. Riku and Mickey then used the attack Double Duel, where they both rushed forwards, spinning as they attacked, twice. They landed back on the ground and Riku attacked with another combo attack while Mickey blasted Pearl Magic.

Riku landed back on the ground and blocked with another barricade as the Demon Tower rushed at him. He countered with a blast from his Keyblade and performed another combo attack while Mickey shot more Pearl magic. Riku blasted more Thundaga until his magic expenses ran out, then followed it up with another combo attack. He then blasted the Grand Magic spell Thundaza, doing significant damage to the Demon Tower. Then he and Mickey once again attacked with Double Duel, ending the battle.

Vanitas had to admit, Mickey and Riku were quite the badass duo.

The two watched as the Demon Tower broke apart in the air above them, dropping the Shadows back to the ground, where they once again surrounded Mickey and Riku.

"It's not over," Mickey said. "Be careful!"

The Demon Tower reappeared behind them, much to Riku's surprise.

"Oh, no!" he yelled as the Tower charged at him.

He exclaimed as the Tower slammed into him, much to Mickey's horror. After a few seconds of surging, the Demon Tower rose once again, dragging Riku within itself.

"Riku!" Mickey yelled.

The vision shifted to show Riku within the Demon Tower, appearing as if he was drowning, with bubbles floated up next to him like he was really in water. He exclaimed as he tried to breathe, resting his hand over his chest.

" _Didn't expect to see you again_ ," a familiar but barely registered voice said through the water.

"What...?" Riku asked in his head, looking around in confusion.

" _Why did you even come here?_ " the voice asked.

"Because somebody needs me," Riku said in his head, gripping his fist on his chest in determination.

" _Do you want some help?_ " the voice asked.

"Who are you?" Riku asked in his head.

" _Me? I'm..._ " the voice started to say.

But then Riku fell unconscious, floating in the water.

Not too much long after that, Riku heard Mickey's voice beg, "Riku... Wake up... Riku."

Riku breathed out as he opened his eyes, seeing the mouse look down at him in worry. Mickey gasped in relief when he saw that Riku was awake.

"Are you okay?" Mickey asked.

Riku got up into a sitting position, looking down with his hair now ruffled around in a way Vanitas had to admit looked cool. *** _3_ ***

"Where'd the Heartless go?" Riku asked.

"I got more than half of 'em, and the rest vanished," Mickey explained. "But, they spit you out first."

Riku stood up and winced with one hand on his Keyblade, and the other resting on his sore head.

"Thanks," he said. "I owe ya."

"I know ya feel invincible, but we're not," Mickey told Riku.

"Are _you_ all right, Mickey?" Riku asked, worried for his friend.

"Yeah, thanks to the new gear," Mickey assured him. He frowned in worry. "But, your Keyblade..."

Riku looked down at Way to the Dawn.

"Oh," he said in surprise, seeing that the top of the key was broken off.

He looked at Mickey and gave a small, nervous chuckle.

"The Heartless down here are stronger than what we expected," Mickey said. "I guess we probably should have powered up our Keyblades before we came in here, huh? I think we need to go back to Master Yen Sid's tower so we can regroup."

Riku looked down at his broken Keyblade in contemplation.

"But Aqua's... still down here, alone," he said in worry. "Facing enemies like that."

He started walking down the beach towards the water to look at it better.

"I know..." Mickey said.

Riku stopped right in front of the water, which didn't crash onto the beach like most water at beaches did.

"What if she's feeling as scared and alone... as I did the first time I came here?" Riku asked. "How long are we supposed to keep her waiting in this awful place?"

Mickey waited a second before he walked up next to Riku and stared at the water.

"But Aqua..." he said. "She's like Sora."

"Whaaat!?" Riku asked, jumping and looking down at Mickey in shock.

"No, no, no," Mickey assured Riku. " _Strong_ like Sora!"

Riku sighed out in relief as he looked down, thankful that Mickey had clarified his words. *** _4_ ***

' _Oh, god, imagine if she really was like him that way,_ ' Vanitas thought with a small chuckle. ' _We'd never have been able to get anything done._ '

"Okay... Good," Riku said, looking at Mickey again. During his next words, he looked at the water again with a smile. "Then I guess she's gonna be all right. Sora could fall into any darkness and swim his way out."

"Besides, we won't be long," Mickey added, turning and looking at the water in front of them again.

"Right," Riku agreed with a nod of his head.

Riku walked forwards a bit more and stabbed the rest of his Keyblade into the ground, much to Mickey's surprise.

"Can't use _this_ Keyblade anymore," Riku said. "Might as well leave it here... for the other me."

"Wha..." Mickey asked in confusion.

The vision ended just seconds later. Those visions were... something. Between Luxord and Xigbar's confrontation about the black box, and Riku and Mickey's encounter in the dark realm with powerful Heartless, there was certainly gonna be a lot to talk about once they got back to the Mysterious Tower...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Anyone else curious about why Mickey always had a wide smile during about 90% of his scenes in this game?
> 
> *2 I love that they let us play as Riku there. It added some nice diversity so you're not always Sora
> 
> *3 I barely even noticed that Riku's hair had changed at this point in the game until just now writing this. Again, that's how observant I am of this shit. I just thought that was how it was styled when he first appeared
> 
> *4 I freaking love that scene! 😂


	5. A New Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team regroups back at Master Yen Sid's tower before the Gummi quartet sets off on a new adventure...

The group in the Gummi Ship made their way back to the Mysterious Tower where they explained the situation to Master Yen Sid. The man was just as disappointed to learn the situation as Sora was to tell it.

"I see..." he said, looking from Sora to Vanitas. "You could not regain your strength, nor you your belief."

"Aw, no biggie," Sora told the former Keyblade Master. "I still learned a lot. And besides, V was able to make it this far without his Keyblade. He can do just as much to help without one, right?"

"No, I'll be the first one dead without my Keyblade," Vanitas told him, resting on the table. "Xehanort is one of the most powerful Keyblade Masters in years. The dude has telekinesis and has reshaped the earth with just a wave of his hand."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy's eyes widened at Vanitas's words. The ravenette sighed out and looked at Yen Sid.

"I want to believe in myself," Vanitas said. "I want to believe that I can be a Master again... I just don't. Not after seeing what my friends went through because I screwed up."

"You will get that belief back, Vanitas," Yen Sid assured Vanitas. "Eventually, I promise." He looked towards Sora. "And regardless, Sora, you will need the power of waking."

Sora muttered in surprise, then in disappointment as he crossed his arms in thought.

"It can't be gone forever," Goofy assured the brunette. "Maybe something'll trigger it real soon."

"Like, what exactly?" Sora asked.

He looked at Vanitas, hopeful for an answer.

"I don't know," Vanitas said, shrugging his shoulders. "I never heard of cases of Keyblade wielders actually forgetting the power of waking. I don't know what we can do to fix this."

"I know!" Donald said. "How 'bout a bonk on the head?"

Vanitas didn't even look at the duck as he rammed his fist into the back of his head, making him exclaim in surprise and look up at Vanitas, angry.

"There," Vanitas said with a smile. "So, do you have the power of waking now?"

"You dick!" Donald snapped.

Sora mouthed _Thank you_ to his cousin behind Donald's back.

"Perhaps it could be as something as simple as that," Yen Sid admitted.

"Wait, what?" Sora asked, looking at the former Master in surprise.

"All right," Vanitas said, sighing out in defeat. He pulled out his aluminum baseball bat. "Please don't take this personally."

"Wait, maybe that's not how it works!" Sora said, waving his arms at Vanitas.

"I hope not," Vanitas admitted, sliding the bat back into his sling. "I'd rather not give another family member a concussion. My limit is fourteen times."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy frowned at that, but shrugged it off as Yen Sid started talking again.

"You misunderstand me," Yen Sid said, looking at Sora. "Whenever you are in need, magic happens. That is your greatest strength, Sora."

"You make it sound like an accident," Sora said, leaning forwards in sadness.

Donald and Goofy chuckled at that, which caused Vanitas to frown at the two. However, their attentions were all drawn towards the door behind them as the sound of steps coming through.

"We're back, Master!" Mickey's voice called out as the door opened up.

Riku and Mickey walked into the chamber, with Riku closing the door behind them.

"Dude, that Demon Tower swallowing you up might have been dangerous, but it made your hair look cool," Vanitas complimented.

Riku, not surprised at all that Vanitas knew about what they had faced, was confused about the ravenette's compliment about his hair. Expecting that, Vanitas took out a super shiny knife and offered it to Riku in place of a mirror. Riku studied his reflection, now seeing that it was different than how it was when they went into the realm of darkness.

"Oh," Riku said in a happy manner, cocking his head to the side as he looked at his reflection.

"Whoa!" Sora said in amazement, looking at their new clothes.

"Good to see that you guys are all here," Mickey said.

"We were here before, but you didn't wait," Sora said, a little annoyed.

Then Donald and Goofy rushed forwards, pushing Sora out of the way as they ran to Mickey.

"Your Majesty!" they greeted Mickey.

"You guys just saw him this morning," Vanitas reminded them. "Why are you acting like you've never seen him in weeks?" *** _1_ ***

"Hey, there, fellas," Mickey greeted his old friends. "So, what have you four been up to?"

Sora stood up and shook off being knocked to the ground. He walked forwards and tried to pull Donald and Goofy aside so he could see the King, too. He said, "We went to see..."

But then Donald and Goofy pushed him off and onto the floor.

"Dicks!" Vanitas commented as he kneeled down to help up his cousin.

"We went to Olympus to visit Hercules!" Donald told Mickey.

"And to figure out how to get all of Sora's lost powers and V's belief back," Goofy added as Riku placed the knife on the table and walked up next to Mickey.

Donald moved in next to Mickey and covered his mouth, loudly whispering, "But... it was a huge disappointment."

Vanitas flipped the bird... the bird, while Mickey muttered his sadness.

"What a shame," Mickey said. "But, honestly..."

"We didn't fare any better," Riku admitted.

"Clearly," Vanitas said, not maliciously or rudely. Just to talk. "'Cause if you did, Aqua'd be with you."

"Master Yen Sid said that's why you fellahs left," Goofy said. "Did you at least figure out where she went?"

"Even a hint?" Donald asked.

Riku and Mickey shared a sad look that they then shared with Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy. They all looked down in sadness while Sora sat up.

"Come on," he complained. "Can I finally say something?"

Vanitas lightly slapped his cousin on the back of the head.

"Read the room," Vanitas told him.

Riku started explaining. "We know that Master Aqua made it as far as the beach Sora, V, and I once visited, but that's where her trail ends."

"I saw her down there with Ansem the Wise," Vanitas said as he and Sora walked up next to Donald and Goofy. "No clue how the machine transported that fucker down there, but if he was also gone..."

He trailed off, with Riku and Mickey knowing what he was implying.

"Meaning...?" Sora asked.

"All traces of her vanish into the great abyss... beneath the realm of darkness," Mickey explained.

"...She's gone?" Donald asked, a worried expression on his face.

"No," Riku said, and some hope rose in Vanitas's chest. "Sora was dragged into the abyss during the Mark of Mastery exam. And I went in after him. So I think if we find someone really close to Aqua, and they make the dive, they could reach her down there."

Vanitas deflated at that news. He looked down in sadness as a bit of rage grew in his chest over the news there was nothing he could do. So, he released it by punching the closest wall and making some plaster rain down from the ceiling.

"I'm not even sure who's left to ask," Mickey admitted.

"There's no one left to ask," Vanitas said. "Master Eraqus is gone, Ven's still in a coma, we've got do damn clue where Terra's body even is, and me..."

He looked down at his left hand. Light grew over his palm and extended, forming the right length of his Keyblade. Then the sound of glass breaking appeared and the light broke into little pieces that disappeared.

"Nothing," Vanitas said, looking down and shaking his head with closed eyes.

"With Aqua gone, you're the only one here who knows where Ventus is," Riku said. "But you said it yourself, his body is in Castle Oblivion."

"Doesn't help that the only Keyblade that can change the place back to normal is with Aqua," Vanitas added.

"So Aqua, she's gonna be the key to finding Ventus," Riku said, placing a hand to his chin in thought. "And maybe she can help us find Terra. But without V's Keyblade..."

Everyone looked down with closed eyes as they realized that they had no options. Sora looked at Yen Sid to Vanitas with contemplation in his eyes before placing a hand to his chest. He turned to face Riku and Mickey.

"I'll save her!" Sora announced with a pumped fist.

Donald and Goofy jumped in surprise at his news.

"Huh?" Riku and Mickey simultaneously asked.

"You can't!" Donald told him.

"But Sora, that's gonna be super hard since you don't have the power of waking," Goofy told him.

"Huh?" Sora asked, just now realizing what he had said. He lowered his fist and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry... I have no idea why that just popped up."

"I do," Vanitas said with a knowing smile. "I think it's time for me to tell you guys what I saw when I was trying to get my memories back."

So, he started telling them everything. He started with the story of the Master of Masters with his six students, the five foretellers granted Books of Prophecies, and Luxu, who had gone on with the Gazing Eye and the black box.

"No one knows what's in the box," Vanitas told them. "The Master of Masters only whispered it to Luxu, and Luxu had heard it, he gasped in surprise. I couldn't hear what the guy said, but if it was able to make a foreteller look up in surprise, then it can't be pleasant."

Riku, Mickey, Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded in agreement with winces, all of them a little afraid of what could be in the box.

Vanitas continued with explaining the real reason of the Keyblade War, with the foretellers being divided over the news of a traitor. They all battled to get much more Lux, and all five unions were taken out, except for the Dandelions, and the foretellers disappeared. He made sure to mention Strelitzia and the other members of the new foretellers.

"The new five were Ephemer, Skuld, Lauriam, Brain, and... Ventus," Vanitas explained.

Everyone went wide eyed at this news, even Master Yen Sid.

"Same clothes, blonde hair, and blue eyes," Vanitas said. "Somehow, some way, Ventus was able to be alive back then."

"But... how?" Mickey asked.

"You said it yourself, this was centuries ago," Riku said.

"I don't know," Vanitas admitted. "Honestly, it's one of the top things I plan on asking him once we get him back."

He continued to explain how darkness had tricked Ventus into believing he was chosen by Ava as one of the new foretellers, and had even possessed him, using his body to kill Stelitzia and take her part of the Book of Prophecies.

"It certainly took a while for that to be revealed," Vanitas admitted. "My immediate thought was that it was Lauriam, because he's the Somebody of the Gay Man, Marluxia, one of the Nobodies we met at Castle Oblivion. Turns out, Strelitzia was his sister, and he went looking for her with Elrena, the Somebody of Larxene, Marluxia's partner at Castle Oblivion."

He continued explaining the last events he had seen of the new foretellers before going on to part of Xehanort's backstory, including how he had met the Master of Masters in the Keyblade Graveyard and started his conquest thinking the worlds had deluded themselves into thinking they were part of light, and something needed to be done. Vanitas continued to explain the conflict that rose between Xehanort and Eraqus had grown because of Xehanort's beliefs, but Xehanort walked away and recruited Ventus as a pupil, while Eraqus recruited Vanitas, Aqua, and Terra. He explained how Xehanort tried to use Ventus to forge the χ-blade, but he couldn't do it, so Xehanort extracted the darkness from the blonde, creating Dark Vanitas.

"Dark Vanitas?" Sora asked, a frown on his, Donald, Goofy, and Riku's faces.

"He stole my name because it sounded cool, but since I already exist, we call him Dark Vanitas," Vanitas explained.

The four went _Oh..._ in understanding.

Vanitas continued to explain how when Xehanort took Ventus to his old home world to recover, Ventus's heart ended up connecting to the newborn Sora's, and Sora restored what Ventus had lost, with the two effecting each other.

"You ended up inheriting Ven's happy go lucky attitude, and have the Keyblade passed down to you," Vanitas told his surprised cousin. "And Ven gained a pure heart filled with light."

"Whoa..." Sora, Mickey, and Riku breathed out, surprised at this news.

Vanitas continued to explain about Xehanort had left Ventus with Eraqus so that he could grow stronger and become a good enough asset to form the χ-blade, while also making plans to use Terra as his first vessel to prolong his life. He did take a minute to explain the situation where he had landed on Earth 616 and met Fury and Carol Danvers, helping them ensure the safety of an alien race called the Skrulls. Vanitas continued to explain the journey that the four had taken to stop Xehanort, wincing as he remembered his previous mistakes. But he did perk up as he mentioned Aqua cast a protection spell on Kairi while also unintentionally passing the Keyblade down to her, while Ventus had done the same thing to Lea. He also made sure to add how Terra had appeared on the island and passed down the Keyblade to Riku.

"That's why he's been stronger than you, winning every game you guys played for the last decade," Vanitas said. "With the Keyblade passed on to him, he was made stronger and more durable than you... In other words, he cheated."

"What?" Riku asked with a laugh. "Is it cheating to unknowingly use the enhanced powers passed on to you to beat your best friend in sword fights and races you go on for ten years?"

"Yes," Vanitas, Mickey, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Yen Sid said simultaneously.

Riku continued to smile for a bit, which dropped quickly.

"Yeah, I heard it as I said it," he admitted. He made a face. "I'm a cheater." *** _2_ ***

Vanitas then continued to explain about what had happened at the Keyblade Graveyard, and everything that happened there, from Terra's possession and the beginning of his Lingering Will, to the χ-blade being forged, the battle between Ventus and Dark Vanitas in the former's heart, and the fight that Vanitas, Aqua, and Mickey had done against the possessed Ventus with the χ-blade.

"After Ven destroyed the χ-blade in his heart, his heart went to sleep," Vanitas told them. "So, it went off to a place for it to be safe while Aqua and I placed his body somewhere else safe. And it went to someone that it new it could trust, because that person had helped them before."

Vanitas looked at Sora, and everyone, even Sora understood his implications.

"Ven's heart is resting in yours," Vanitas confirmed with a nod of the head. "That's why Roxas looks just like Ven, because his heart was in yours when you lost it, so he influenced Roxas. And it's why all those times you went to the Station of Awakening, there was a voice guiding you. That was Ven."

"That... explains a lot," Sora said, eyes wide and a hand on his chest.

"All this time, Ventus's heart has been resting inside Sora's?" Mickey asked.

"Yep," Vanitas said, looking at his cousin. "Sora's heart is like a hotel, it keeps inviting other hearts inside to take a rest."

That caused some laughs, which helped calm down Sora a bit, since he was still surprised by the revelation.

Vanitas then explained the battle that he and Aqua had done with the possessed Terra in Radiant Garden, which led to the birth of the Dark Figure. He explained how the fight had gone, including his Keyblade getting damaged and exploding and Aqua sending Terra's possessed body, her armor, and Keyblade back into the realm of light. He continued to explain about how Ansem the Wise had found the amnesiac Xehanort and Vanitas in the city and took them in as apprentices, which turned out to be a mistake when Xehanort had convinced the other apprentices to steal Ansem's work, which led to him sending Kairi off the world to find him a Keyblade wielder, along with the start of the original Organization XIII.

"From there, you know the story," Vanitas continued. "Thanks to the spell Aqua cast on Kairi, the light of her heart led her to the light of another: Sora."

Sora smiled at that.

' _That's gotta be like confirmation that the two of them were destined to be together,_ ' Vanitas thought, which Riku heard in his head.

' _Oh, definitely,_ ' Riku agreed, which Vanitas heard.

"And after that was when everything started," Vanitas continued. "I did my nine year rampage, we all met at the Islands then Traverse Town, we went on our adventure, Sora released his heart and woke up Kairi, while also bringing about Roxas and Naminé, but Naminé ended up doing something big with her first breath." That confused the others. "She used it to mentally communicate with Terra's Lingering Will, and assured him to keep believing that he'd see his friends again someday."

"Oh, that was nice of her," Goofy commented with a smile.

"In a way, she's sort of always been on our side," Riku said with a smile.

"Calm down, lover boy, she's still in Kairi's heart," Vanitas told him.

Riku dropped the smile and looked down in embarrassment.

Vanitas reminded them about what had happened at Kingdom Hearts, mentioning the what Aqua and Mickey had gone through on the other side of the door, before explaining to Sora, Donald, and Goofy about what they had gone through back at Castle Oblivion, with Marluxia, Larxene, Vexen, Naminé, Axel, and the Riku Replica, including what had happened in the basement with Riku, Ansem, Lexaeus, Zexion, and once again the Riku Replica.

"He didn't hold anything against you by the end," Vanitas assured Riku.

"I can't believe it, I really confused a Replica for my best friend?" Sora asked in surprise.

"Well, it was a very convincing Replica," Vanitas admitted. "Your biggest mistake was not listening to me when I explained logic about whether or not he was the real thing. So, I yanked at your hair and snapped at you to listen to me next time."

"Why am I not surprised?" Sora sighed out, looking down in shame.

Vanitas then explained the situation that the Organization had gone through with forming Xion, and the good times he had with her, Roxas, and Axel, as both a reminder for Riku, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and an explanation for Mickey and Yen Sid. Riku winced again at the reminder of the bad things he had done, but he shrugged it off once he once again learned about the Organization's attempt to use Xion for. Sora once again looked down to avoid eyes when Vanitas had mentioned that Roxas and Xion had cared for each other the way he and Kairi do.

"Xion faded away, and Roxas willingly returned to you," Vanitas told Sora. "But, since all Organization members had hearts, their hearts stayed intact while their bodies shattered. Their hearts went back to where they originally came from."

Vanitas looked at Sora, and everyone was able to figure out what he was implying.

"Roxas and Xion's hearts are inside mine, too?" Sora asked, placing his hand on his chest in surprise.

"The hotel joke is accurate," Riku said, with his own surprise. "Ventus, Kairi, Roxas, Xion... how many hearts are gonna end up resting inside yours?"

"He's had four people inside him," Vanitas said, smirking. "If this were a different situation, I'd be proud."

Riku laughed, because him being the most mature of the others meant that he understood Vanitas's dirty joke.

"What does that mean?" Sora asked.

"You'll find out when you're older," Riku told him.

"We're older than him, and we don't understand," Donald said, gesturing to Sora.

Things had to change back to a serious tone as Vanitas explained the details that they had all missed from their second journey, including how Axel detained from the Organization to get Roxas back, which led to his sacrifice to help them reach the castle. He continued to explain to Sora and Riku the adventure that the others had in the datascape in greater detail, including how Maleficent and Pete left with a new quest to find the Book of Prophecies, and then the meeting Xehanort had had with Xigbar and Saïx in the Keyblade Graveyard, contemplating their options for their final vessel.

"And... that's about it," Vanitas finished.

"Whoa..." Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Sora said in amazement.

"Well, now I understand what that armor was saying when it said that Sora wasn't the one he had chosen," Donald admitted.

"He remembered Sora, but was confused because it was Riku he had passed the Keyblade to," Vanitas added.

"Wait, is he that someone you were talking about?" Mickey asked, looking up at Riku.

"Okay, yeah," Riku admitted. "He said I had to keep it secret."

"Of course he did," Vanitas said, shaking his head with a slight smile. "But that's why Mansex and copy Ansem look younger than old man Xehanort. They took the tanned skin of former Destiny Islands resident, Xehanort, and the appearance of Terra."

He then winced as his friends got the same thought.

"Does that mean that Xemnas and Ansem are Xehanort and Terra's..." Riku started to voice their thoughts.

"Don't!" Vanitas said, raising a hand. "Those thoughts are too similar with seeing Naminé and Xion in relation to Sora and Kairi, along with Roxas in relation to Sora and Ven."

Sora winced with those thoughts.

"Still have a hard time believing that there are three hearts resting inside mine," Sora said. "Roxas and Xion, I can understand, but Ventus's... and resting inside mine for so long..."

"And it's hard to believe that Xehanort's actions were influences by another's this entire time!" Mickey said, raising his arms to emphasize his surprise.

"The Master of Masters," Vanitas reminded him. "I don't even know whose side the fucker is on at this point."

"I remember, Thor mentioned him to me the first time we went to Earth 616," Sora said. "Said there were old legends about him on Asgard that haven't been learned in the more modern times."

"What do we do about him?" Donald asked.

"The Master of Masters has been hiding for centuries," Yen Sid told them, reminding everyone that he was there. "If he is still alive, in however same way that Ventus, Lauriam, and Elrena are still alive, then he has successfully hidden from even myself, Asgard, and even the Ancient One, Strange's predecessor, for centuries. Even if we were to start a search, there is very little chance it'd be successful."

"Let's not worry about the Master of Masters for now," Vanitas told everyone. "Right now, our biggest concern is Xehanort, and his plan to return the worlds of darkness and reshape them into his 'perfect' image."

"I don't wanna see what that guy's perfect image of what the worlds should be is," Riku said.

"Neither do I," Vanitas said, looking at Sora. "Luckily, Ven being in Sora's heart means that we have an edge. From the looks of it, he can take over your mouth every once in a while, which was why you volunteered, but since you do have a Keyblade, you might be our best option at getting Aqua out."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Ven's heart is in yours, and he's someone that's close to Aqua," Vanitas explained. "If you get back the power of waking and use it to get her out, then Ven will be able to reach her through you, and help us get her out. Without my Keyblade, it's the only option we got."

"If Ven can use him to talk sometimes, then it should be able to work!" Mickey agreed.

"Then let's do it!" Sora agreed with a pump of his fist. *** _3_ ***

"You and Ventus better not let us down," Riku told Sora with a small laugh.

"Sora, you must focus on regaining your lost power of waking while Vanitas tries to get back his Keyblade," Yen Sid told them. "Vanitas, I recall that you and Master Aqua travelled to many worlds and connected with others who could be the link we need."

"That we did," Vanitas agreed with a nod of the head.

"Good plan, sir," Mickey complimented his mentor. "Riku and I will retrace her steps and see if we can find any sort of clues, but first..."

"Hm?" Yen Sid asked as Mickey walked up to the table.

"We got hit pretty hard in the realm of darkness," Mickey explained. "My Keyblade was damaged, and the Heartless broke Riku's clean in half. So, we're gonna need replacements before we can continue."

"Wait a second," Vanitas said with a frown as Riku walked up next to Mickey. "If you can replace Keyblades, then why not give me a new one?"

"You can carry a Keyblade of another wielder," Yen Sid told him. "But you will not be able to carry one yourself until yours returns to you."

"Always a catch," Vanitas commented.

' _Good on your for covering all the bases at once, Kyle_ ," Vanitas thought.

"Rendezvous with Kairi and Lea," Yen Sid told Riku and Mickey. "They are continuing their training under the tutelage of the wizard Merlin."

"Yes, sir," Mickey said as he and Riku bowed their heads at the former master.

"Also, I would like you to deliver these for me," Yen Sid told them, waving his hand and making two suitcases appear on the table.

"Are they..." Mickey started.

"Yes, they are the same as the ones I gave you," Yen Sid told them. "Special vestments to shield Kairi and Lea from the darkness."

"We got 'em," Mickey assured Yen Sid as they took the suitcases.

"What?" Sora asked in childlike annoyance. "No fair! What about my outfit, Master?"

"Sora, you know I love you, but please act your age," Vanitas calmly told his cousin. "You're fifteen, not five."

"Settle down," Yen Sid told them. "I have new clothes for you, too, Sora. A gift from the good fairies."

Sora perked up at that.

"We even have something for you, Vanitas," Yen Sid said, getting Vanitas's attention. The former master waved his hand, and two more suitcases appeared on the table. "We reached into the closet within your bag and acquired some of the clothes you carry in there, enhancing them to protect you from darkness. We specifically chose clothes from your own closet so that you'd be in clothes your comfortable in."

"A bit of an invasion of my privacy," Vanitas commented. "But depending on what you chose, I might not be that mad."

"I knew you'd come through for us," Sora told Yen Sid in excitement. "Thanks!"

Donald grumbled in annoyance as Sora and Vanitas went up to the table and took their suitcases. Sora lifted his up while Vanitas opened his to study the clothes.

"All right," Vanitas said with a nod of the head. There was a grey t shirt of two colors, a darker grey on the torso with a lighter grey on the sleeves, around the collar, and three buttons down his chest, along with a grey pocket on the left side of the chest. There was also a red, black, and white short sleeved flannel shirt, and blue jeans. The black bandana he had a decade prior was even next to the flannel shirt. "This is definitely something I can get behind. Oh!" There was also the red, and black not leather motorcycle jacket with SKINO in white on the arms and back. "And I did enjoy this jacket."

He chuckled and looked up in remembrance.

"I should go visit Julian again," Vanitas said to himself. "I miss him and his friends."

"What's SKINO?" Donald asked. "Or... SKIND?"

"I don't know," Vanitas said. "I just liked the jacket."

Vanitas smiled as he moved aside the shirt, and his eyes widened at what was resting under it. He reached down and picked up the star shaped red glassed charm that Aqua had given to him so long ago, the last thing he had of her. He breathed in and out as he lifted it up and looked at the charm better, seeing it was exactly how it was before it shattered when his Keyblade exploded. With a shaky breath, he looked from the charm to Yen Sid.

"When you mentioned that it shattered, I went to work to reconstructing it," Yen Sid explained. "I had a feeling that you'd want it back."

Vanitas breathed out with a touched expression. He looked down at the charm as tears gathered in his eyes. He closed his fist around the charm in a protective manner and placed it to his chest, closing his eyes as he breathed out. He looked up at Yen Sid as a couple of tears slid down his cheeks.

"Thank you," Vanitas said, his voice cracking.

He set down the charm onto the grey shirt and smiled at it before closing the case and lifting it up like Sora was doing with his.

"Remember, Sora, those are no ordinary garments," Yen Sid reminded Sora. "Like before, they have very special powers, so it took extra time to prepare them. In addition, there is a gift from Chip and Dale inside."

"Oh, is it one of those Gummiphones?" Vanitas asked. "I gotta say, I've really enjoyed using mine."

"Gummiphone?" Donald asked.

"Phones made to help communicate between worlds," Vanitas translated. "They gave me one before you guys took us back to the islands before, and I asked them if they could give some to the others back at Radiant Garden. Yuffie and I have been using them to talk while I was at the islands with these guys."

"And how many of these talks were actually age appropriate?" Riku asked with a knowing smirk.

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell," Vanitas said with his own knowing smirk. He then leaned in with a serious expression. He whispered, "But if you're ever with Sora and he has my phone, keep him out of my screenshot gallery."

"Cool," Sora said, twisting around his suitcase in his hands so that he could reach the handle. "Thanks."

The smile never leaving Sora's face, he swung the suitcase around his shoulder with his left hand, resting it on his left shoulder blade.

"Happy now?" Riku asked the brunette.

"Yup!" Sora promised as Donald and Goofy walked up next to the others.

"Now, you are all ready to proceed," Yen Sid told them.

"Hey, wait!" Jiminy Cricket announced as he jumped up onto the table and ran towards the edge. "Don't forget about me!"

"Jiminy!" Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed as they leaned forwards to look at the cricket better.

"Every journey worth goin' on needs a cricket to keep track of it," Jiminy told them. "And I can't let ya start this one without ol' Jiminy Cricket by your side."

"The whole team's back!" Goofy cheered.

"Yeah," Sora said, pumping his fist.

"Yeah!" Donald said, pumping his own fist.

"Let's do this," Vanitas said, pumping his own fist.

"Good," Yen Sid said, getting the four's attention. "Now, to mark the beginning of a new journey, I wish for you to have this, Sora."

He waved his hand, and a small pendant appeared over Sora's free hand, which he caught with some confusion.

"Okay?" Sora asked.

Vanitas looked at the pendant and saw that it was purple and black with the Dream Eater insignia in the center.

"That is a Heartbinder," Yen Sid explained. "Think of it as a good luck charm made just for you. You have a gift, Sora, for connecting with others, and this makes that gift stronger."

Sora closed his hand around the Heartbinder and held it up to his chest in determination.

"It's time to go!" Mickey announced, and the six stood at attention.

They all bowed, but then Sora perked up. He, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy all rose their heads up towards Yen Sid and raised their hands to their ears to listen better.

They were barely able to make it out as Yen Sid whispered, "May your hearts be your guiding key."

Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy formed a semi-circle and leaned close together since they didn't want anyone else to hear them.

"See?" Goofy asked them.

Sora nodded his head and Donald whispered his agreement.

"Now let's roll, boys," Vanitas announced before grabbing his knife off of the table and sliding it into the sheath.

Sora, Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Mickey all started out of the room and out of the tower, ready for the beginning of their most harrowing journey yet...

* * *

Sora and Vanitas had taken some time to get changed into their new clothes before they left, with Sora deciding to style his hair a different way now, like Riku was doing.

Vanitas had kept his hair how it was, though. He just liked it that way. He was dressed in the short sleeved shirt with different colors of grey, the short sleeved red, white, and black flannel that he left open, his not leather motorcycle jacket, his jeans, and his usual sneakers. He also pulled out some accessories that had been hidden away for a couple of years. His bandana was hanging around his neck, the rectangular shaped pendant with the Fall Out Boy logo hung down his chest, and he had a chain hanging down his right side.

' _So what if it's not the 90's anymore, Magnus Chase?_ ' Vanitas had thought. ' _They still look cool._ ' *** _4_ ***

Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy climbed into the Gummi ship and set sail throughout the Lanes Between. Of course, they soon came to a new problem: they didn't have any clue on where to go. The four of them sat in their seats, with Sora resting his hands on the back of his head in contemplation.

"Okay, where to?" Donald asked, literally sitting on the edge of his seat.

Sora sat up and looked out the windshield.

"Ummm..." he said.

"Oh, come on," Donald complained. "Would you get serious?"

"Give me a break, okay?" Sora begged before taking his hands off of his head. "I told you. These things take time."

"Gawrsh, is it just me, or is this turning into a routine?" Goofy asked, looking at the others.

"It's not helping that he's gotten a lot of pressure piled on his shoulders, then you keep making comments about him not being good enough," Vanitas told the duck.

"Yes!" Sora exclaimed, gesturing to Vanitas since his cousin finally understood. "Thank you! You have no idea how much that messes with me!"

But then Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all surprised when a muffled electronic musical theme started playing out of somewhere.

"Huh?" Donald asked as the three looked around in confusion. "What?"

"Oh, my Jesus," Vanitas said with a laugh. "That's the Gummiphone. It's in your pocket, Sora."

Sora exclaimed in confusion and reached into his back pocket, pulling out the Gummiphone.

"This is the Gummiphone?" Sora asked as the phone kept ringing.

"Make it stop!" Donald demanded as he, Vanitas, and Goofy walked up to his seat.

"But, I don't know how," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You're getting a call," Vanitas explained to his cousin. "See the ringing phone? That means that someone is calling you. You can tap the green phone to accept the call, and the red to ignore it. I suggest accepting the call."

"Okay..." Sora said, slowly raising his free hand to the phone. "Like, this?"

He tapped the answer button, and the screen changed to show Dale on the table in the Disney Castle library.

"Hurray!" Dale cheered. "He picked up."

"Huh?" Sora asked, surprised. "Dale?"

"You have no problem using the earpieces given to us by the Avengers and Guardians, but a video phone confuses you?" Vanitas asked Sora.

"Hey, Chipper, I finally got him!" Dale announced to his offscreen brother. "Hurry up, Chip!"

Chip ran onto the screen and slid to a stop next to Dale and turned to see the others.

"Well!" Chip greeted. "It's about time."

"Chip?" Sora asked.

"Ya gotta answer the phone, Sora, or we can't give ya updates," Dale told him. "We got lots and _lots_ of important stuff we want to tell ya!"

"That's why we asked Master Yen Sid to make sure you got this Gummiphone we made ya," Chip added. "So we'd be able to stay in touch with you at all times."

"And it takes pictures," Dale added, pretending to use a camera to take a picture.

Jiminy jumped up onto Sora's shoulder.

"Oh!" he greeted in surprise. "You finally finished the other ones. Like V said, we can use this Gummiphone to talk to each other across worlds. In fact, I might even try writing my journal on it."

"Wow!" Sora said, looking at the phone. "Sounds like it's pretty handy, guys."

"Yeah, that's why so many more people on Earth are getting smartphones by the day," Vanitas commented.

"So, what's so important?" Sora asked Chip and Dale.

"This!" Chip told them. "Back when you and Riku quested through the Sleeping Worlds, Riku recovered some secret research data that Ansem the Wise hid inside you."

"Ansem's code!" Dale assessed/

"Mm-hmm," Chip agreed. "We've been workin' our tails off tryin' to crack it and see what it says."

The screen changed, and showed the lab in Radiant Garden and someone that Vanitas went wide eyed to see.

"The data has been encrypted, so we've only deciphered some of it," Ienzo said.

"Huh?" Sora asked as he, Donald, and Goofy cocked their heads in surprise, while Vanitas gasped in surprise.

"Oh... I guess we haven't spoken since the castle," Ienzo said.

"We never met at the castle," Vanitas reminded him, laughing a bit. "You only messed around with Riku."

"Right," Ienzo said with a small nod of remembrance. "It's good to see you again, V."

"Likewise, Ienzo," Vanitas said.

"Aeleus is here, too," Ienzo said, looking over his shoulder.

The red haired man said nothing, only frowning at the screen before he turned away.

"Aeleus, whatever's between you and Roxas, it's in the past," Ienzo told him.

' _When was there a conflict between Roxas and Lexaeus?_ ' Vanitas thought. *** _5_ ***

Ienzo sighed out and looked into the screen at them again.

"Sora, the reason we're here is because you and your friends defeated our Nobodies, thereby 'recompleting' us" Ienzo told them. "We cast off our hearts by choice, make no mistake, but we didn't know that Xemnas, or rather, Xehanort, was deceiving us."

"Huh?" Sora asked. "Xemnas?"

"Aw, he's with them!" Goofy said with a frown.

"No, he's not, you morons," Vanitas said in defense of his former apprentice-mate. "He was an apprentice of Ansem that I got along with great. Until Xehanort convinced the other guys to steal the guy's work, citing that he didn't really care about us. He made things worse by stealing their hearts and lying to them about needing to complete Kingdom Hearts to get them back. Now that their Nobodies are gone, they're free people now."

"Exactly," Ienzo agreed. "Xemnas and Xehanort have no hold over us now. We're just students of the heart, exactly the same as we were before all of this began."

"Yeah, right," Donald commented with his own frown.

"But ya know, now that I think about it, Axel's on our side now," Goofy said, scratching the side of his head in thought.

Donald hummed, still suspicious as he crossed his arms.

"We have friends we want to bring back to this world, just as the same as you," Ienzo told them. "To do that, we have to work together. In that spirit, Sora, we found some intriguing data in the bit of code we deciphered."

"Is it about me?" Sora asked.

"Yes," Ienzo confirmed. "In order to piece your memories back together, our teacher, Ansem the Wise, took a close look at your heart. And what he found, is that your heart doesn't just belong to you."

"Oh, yeah, V already told us," Sora said. "Roxas is in there, along with the hidden Keyblade wielder, Ventus, and Xion, the replica the Organization used to try to make a clone of me."

"Oh," Ienzo said, surprised. "That's a bit more than I expected."

"Same with us," Donald admitted.

"Honestly, I suspected this as much for a while," Sora admitted. "I figured there was another heart inside mine, just didn't expect three. Roxas, I did expect. Just like Naminé is still inside Kairi's."

"Interesting..." Ienzo said. "Well, no one knows your heart better than you. To be honest, we still have a plethora of questions on our side, but... this is spectacular. It's incredible enough that you and your Nobody and Replica are able to coexist. If you share a heart with so many people, no wonder someone as remarkable as you caught Ansem the Wise's eye."

"Yep, he did a lot of research involving him," Vanitas agreed. "And did things which I still plan to kick his ass for."

"He helped you get back your life force," Sora reminded his cousin.

"Still," Vanitas said. *** _6_ ***

"We'll keep investigating based off of everything we've got," Ienzo told them. "I'll be in touch."

The image changed back to Chip and Dale in Disney Castle.

"Okeydokey, we'll give you fellas a ring if there's anything else," Dale said. "Remember, me and Chip, the guys at Radiant Garden, and King Mickey and everybody are never far away."

"And Jiminy and V, would you do us a favor?" Chip asked. "Teach Sora how to use the Gummiphone."

"Leave it to us," Jiminy promised.

"We got it," Vanitas added.

The screen went black as the call ended. Sora lowered the Gummiphone as Jiminy jumped off his shoulder and onto the arm rest.

"I have to find Roxas and Xion and save them," Sora said.

"And try to keep Xion a secret from some of the others," Vanitas said. "We don't know how many people Saïx told about her, so we have to hope they're not gonna use her."

"We can do that," Sora said. "If the others are following Aqua's heart..." He looked up with a smile. "So I'll follow Roxas's heart!"

Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, then Vanitas all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Trust the guidance your heart gives ya, Sora," Goofy said. "That's what Master Yen Sid said."

"Where to?" Donald asked.

Sora laughed and looked over at Donald.

"Oh, that's easy," he said with a smile.

"The one place that he felt was home," Vanitas added with a smile.

Sora stood up and summoned his Kingdom Key once more, pointing it outside the windshield. A gate opened, and the others got back in their seats. Vanitas whooped in excitement as they flew through the gateway, ready for their next adventure. The one that Vanitas really hoped would get him back his friends...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Seriously, every time they see him in this game, they rudely push aside Sora and try to make it they're all Mickey can see, acting like they haven't seen him in weeks. Why did the game makers have them do that?
> 
> *2 You can't deny, I'm kind of right
> 
> *3 Yep, Sora's starting out III knowing the truth about Ventus being in his heart, which helps add to his confidence that he can get Aqua out. That's something I'm gonna have to remember when I do the III story. A couple of these changed I did slipped my mind in a couple of my past stories
> 
> *4 That's a reference to the Magnus Chase trilogy of books from Rick Riordan. The guy quickly became one of my favorite characters from that extended universe
> 
> *5 Really, it did seem kind of random that they added in some past dispute between Roxas and Lexaeus. I don't remember that being a thing in the past
> 
> *6 Of course V's still gonna be mad about that. He's V
> 
> Well, 26 more entries in the Everglow Kingdom Hearts 3 playthrough that I'm using for the story frame, not including the small additions from Re:Mind I have to include. Some will be split into multiple chapters, others I'll do the whole video (like Chapter 3 with them being on Olympus). Let's do this


End file.
